Wow! I have somehow managed to go a whole week without posting anything new on this blog! Which is funny, because I normally try to put out 15 posts a month, but I had 13 up a week ago so I was "ahead of schedule" so theoretically not posting anything for a week shouldn't matter. However, this past week held the Modern and Legacy bannings (and Vintage unrestriction) for news to shake things up. It's way to late to provide y'all with up to moment thoughts and feelings about where this could lead, so I will keep it brief:
Modern: They are trying to kill all the combo decks which will let a more natural meta evolve. However, I have to agree with LSV on this one: just ban Emrakul and everything will stabelize. Without Emrakul in the picture, Cloudpost loses a lot of bang and control decks have less targets to kill off. (Although it is easy for 21Post to survive without Emrakul, just use Ulamog... so maybe banning cloudpost was right, but the others were unnecesary). Basically, I think they banned just a little too much. Ponder and Preordain getting banned feels weird to say, but I can see the merit in that as well. But I strongly believe Blazing Shoal and Green Sun's Zenith didn't need to get banned.
Legacy: YAY! I don't think a single person is morose at the banning of Mental Misstep. Maybe Mark, because he has been working hard to collect the cards for his BUGstill deck, but I think that deck is still viable without misstep. Basically, legacy is now a very rich and diverse Meta all over again where you won't play the same deck twice at almost any tournament. Even with Misstep banned, legacy isn't obviously the EXACT same (Dismember says hi), but it's going back to the glory days. Oh, and by the way, Snapcaster Mage is going to shake things up a little right when we thought we were coming back to the good ol days. I look forward to this
Vintage: Fact or Fiction is unrestricted! I don't really know that this means for vintage players.... But yeah for them! If I played Vintage it would probably be a Dredge or Storm deck...
Extended: Why did they include you in the banned list? You're the red headed step child of magic. Go back to where you came from!
Standard: Well, you don't suck anymore, so good job!
So now with that aside, let's talk about something magical! RDW is a deck that I have played from time to time (including at an SCG open where I started 4-1), so obviously I have been thinking about this deck in the new standard, because the deck has never died, it's just taken various forms. Here's an idea of what to start with looking at a new RDW deck:
4x Spikeshot Elder
4x Goblin Fireslinger
4x Furnace Scamp
3x Goblin Grenade
4x Goblin Wardriver
4x Stormblood Berserker
4x Shrine of Burning Rage
4x Goblin Chieftan
4x Brimstone Volley
3x Hero of Oxid Ridge
22x Mountain
When I was thinking about this deck, I realized how brutally fast it is, but of course innovation kicks in. I started thinking about the hate that will be huge going forwards, which looks primarily based on 2 cards right now: Timely Reinforcements and Tree of Redemption. Timely Reinforcements is just a speed bump as you casually cast a Hero of Oxid Ridge and keep on going into the red zone. However Tree of Redemption is a different story. The defending player can play it and prevent a ton of of damage before finally using it gain up to 12 life, and then chump block AGAIN. To say the least, that's freakin' annoying. So I started tryingto think of ways to easily kill the Tree before things get stupid without killing too much tempo, which is when awkward tech Twisted Image came to mind. "hey, they just printed enemy dual lands, let's use them!"
As I very frequently do whenever a random idea pops into my mind, I ran it by a friend, this time it was Mark who responded with, "Is there any other options in blue for other matchups?" And all of a sudden the gears started turning in my head, and we shot a few txts back and forth to eachother. I was thinking of keeping the RDW core in tact, so the first card I suggested was Delver of Secrets // Insectile Aberration because it was 1 mana for 3 damage. This obviously encourages you to play a lot of instants and sorceries (read: burn spells) to triple the clock. You know who else loves lots of instant and sorceries? Snapcaster Mage. Up until now, everyone has been talking about how good he is in control, but Mark suggested using him to rebuy a burn spell and then bash for 2 a couple times, which sounds awesome to me! So here's a deck that can use those 2 cards effectively:
4x Delver of Secrets // Insectile Aberration
4x Snapcaster Mage
4x Grim Lavamancer
3x Gitaxian Probe
4x Galvanic Blast
4x Incinerate
4x Brimstone Volley
3x Arc Trail
4x Ponder
3x Chandra, the Firebranded
4x Sulfur Falls
12x Mountain
7x Island
A turn 1 Delver of Secrets has a 37% chance of being transformed before its first attack, and a 60% chance before its second attack, so playing him out turn 1 is a very threatening start. I figured Grim Lavamancer would be good here because were going to have so many cards in the graveyard anyways (though fetchlands are very missed) and he can randomly kill himself to enable a Morbid Brimstone Volley. Chandra is here because lots of instants and sorceries make her -2 better, though she can be very easily cut as she is very mana intensive and may not do anything... Maybe Koth is simply better here. One advantage to this kind of deck is that it runs very few creatures, so Timely Reinforcements can lose it's teeth easily. With all this red burn, another good card to consider could also be Chandra's Pheonix as a recursive threat.
But that's not all blue can offer us! Mark also suggested using Skaab Ruinator to help deliver some heavy beats. The first card that came to my head when he said this was Furnace Scamp, because that's just a beautiful synergy! Maybe a deck with Skaab Ruinator could look something like this:
4x Furnace Scamp
4x Phantasmal Bear
4x Stormkirk Noble
4x Stormblood Berserker
4x Goblin Wardriver
3x Skaab Ruinator
3x Hero of Oxid Ridge
4x Incinerate
4x Silent Departure
3x Panic Spellbomb
4x Sulfuic Falls
7x Island
12x Mountain
Furnace Scamp and Phantasmal Bear are 2 creatures that will come down before your opponent is even ready to do anything and then beat face very hard, but also die easily to be used as Skaab fuel. Panic Spellbomb is a cool card I had forgotten about, but can be good at pushing through more damage, especially 2+ power creatures that Hero of Oxid Ridge doesn't already make look foolish, all while cycling through your deck.
Putting Phantasmal Bear in a Ruinator deck made me start thinking about the Illusions deck going forwards. A problem with the deck is it's inability to go over the top when it's non-evasive creatures can't quite get there. Maybe adding Skaab Ruinator is the answer to those problems! Without the Lord of Unreal, sometimes the Illusion creatures die easily to stupid stuff like Gideon's Lawkeeper, and now their corpses (do illusions have corpses?) can be used to stitch together this Zombie! Also, you know you want to cast Phantasmal Image and make a copy of Skaab Ruinator! A great advantage of this is that it's not high costed at all, so you don't need to get stupid with Grand Architect. A problem with Wurmcoil is that he was sometimes uncastable without the Architect accelerating things, but Skaaby just needs cold bodies! Maybe this?
4x Phantasmal Bear
4x Phantasmal Image
4x Lord of the Unreal
4x Adaptive Automaton
3x Skaab Ruinator
4x Phantasmal Dragon
4x Ponder
4x Mana Leak
3x Dissipate
4x Silent Departure
22x Island
Just saying, one idea leads to another, leads to another, leads another. Never stop innovating! That's all I have for today! It's great to be posting up cool new ideas again! Until next time, Stay Classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Wednesday, September 28, 2011
Tuesday, September 20, 2011
Have you no Heart?
Hello everybody! So today, WotC dropped the bombshell we have all been waiting for, and that is the updated Banned and Restricted announcement. You can see that announcement here. I'm not talking about that today though, as I am still gathering thoughts on the subject. While a lot of things are changed, in a way there isn't a lot changing. But instead of talking about B&R stuff, I have another cool standard deck to talk about. A card that I saw previewed and never thought anything of was Heartless Summoning. It wasn't until last night when I saw @misterorange tweeting excitedly about the card:
Green:
Acidic Slime
Garruk's Horde
Birds of Paradise (it dies, but the mana fixing is essential)
Viridian Emissary
Primeval Titan
Hollowhenge Scavenger
Thrun, the Last Troll
White:
Auramancer
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Sun Titan
Sunblast Angel
Black:
Entomber Exarch
Gravedigger
Phyrexian Rager
Sheolred, the Whispering One
Grave Titan
Skinrender
Bloodgift Demon
Morkrut Banshee
Reaper from the Abyss
Multicolored:
Glissa, the Traitor
Colorless:
Myr Superion
Solemn Simulcrum
Steel Hellkite
Perilous Myr
So it's pretty obvious White isn't pulling it's weight, so let's make a GB deck. One last note, why did I include Glissa, the Traitor? You know you want to pull off this combo:
T2: Heartless Summoning
T3: Glissa the Traitor, cast Perilous Myr for 0, it dies and shocks a creature with 2 or less toughness. Rinse and repeat infinitely
It may be cute, but it is sure powerful! Glissa herself is insane, and were just doing random thing to make her better. Even if we don't recur a Perilous Myr, getting back a Solemn never hurt anyone. Now the next step is to find good support cards in green and black:
Green:
Caravan Vigil
Birthing Pod
Rampant Growth
Black:
Altar's Reap (slowly becoming one of my favorite cards in Innistrad)
Despise
There's not a lot of support cards to work with, nor do we want many because of the nature of Heartless Summoning, but Birthing Pod as a support card really makes me think. I'm going to build a list without Birthing Pod first, and then try Birthing Pod in the deck to see if it runs differently.
3x Acidic Slime
2x Hollowhenge Scavenger
4x Entomber Exarch
4x Phyrexian Rager
1x Sheolred, Whispering One
2x Grave Titan
4x Skinrender
2x Bloodgift Demon
1x Morkrut Banshee
3x Solemn Simulcrum
1x Steel Hellkite
2x Perilious Myr
2x Glissa, the Traitor
4x Heartless Summoning
4x Woodland Cemetery
11x Swamp
10x Forest
And by adding Birthing Pod, I would shave sume numbers and ultimately spread out the curve into something more like this:
2x Acidic Slime
2x Hollowhenge Scavenger
3x Entomber Exarch
3x Phyrexian Rager
1x Sheolred, Whispering One
1x Grave Titan
3x Skinrender
2x Bloodgift Demon
2x Morkrut Banshee
3x Solemn Simulcrum
1x Steel Hellkite
2x Perilious Myr
2x Glissa, the Traitor
1x Viridian Emissary
4x Heartless Summoning
3x Birthing Pod
4x Woodland Cemetery
11x Swamp
10x Forest
Speaking of curve, both these decks have a high one! That means they are going to play slower, so hopefully they are more impactful. Obviously that poblem is eshewed by using Heartless Summoning. One thing I really like about using Heartless Summoning and Birthing Pod together is that for the cost it would have been to cast a creature, you can cast them and also Pod them into somethign bigger. How awesome would it be to play a turn 4 Skinrender and then immediatly turn it into a Morkrut Banshee? Just immediatly kill 2 of their creatures and have a 3/3 to do some extra legwork! Or maybe you play a Grave Titan and then immediatly turn it into a Sheolred. Then on your upkeep you get your Grave Titan back anyways, so the cost was minimal, but the board position was quite noticeable.
Bloodgift Demon is incredible with Heartless Summoning! Phyrexian Arena was already a great card, and now we get a 4/3 to do battle along side it! Bloodgift is one of those "must answer" cards, or else your opponent may find themselves lost under the sheer weight of card and mana advantage.
I feel like Birthing Pod could really help put Heartless Summoning over the edge, as having neither in your opening 7 means you probably don't know how to mulligan. Just another example of the cool decks that are becoming possible thanks to Innistrad! I'm scouring the spoiler trying to extract more options, and I will be sure to post any that are worthwhile! Until next time, Stay Classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
"Heartless Summoning is a LOT better than many think. Solemn, Titans, Superions, Cons. Sphinx, Exarchs, Garruk's Horde(!!), Viridian Emissary"I realized what he was onto, so now I am on the warpath to see if a good deck is out there. After doing a gatherer search, I feel like Green, White, and Black are the best colors to play in a Heartless Summoning deck. Notable cards are:
Green:
Acidic Slime
Garruk's Horde
Birds of Paradise (it dies, but the mana fixing is essential)
Viridian Emissary
Primeval Titan
Hollowhenge Scavenger
Thrun, the Last Troll
White:
Auramancer
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite
Sun Titan
Sunblast Angel
Black:
Entomber Exarch
Gravedigger
Phyrexian Rager
Sheolred, the Whispering One
Grave Titan
Skinrender
Bloodgift Demon
Morkrut Banshee
Reaper from the Abyss
Multicolored:
Glissa, the Traitor
Colorless:
Myr Superion
Solemn Simulcrum
Steel Hellkite
Perilous Myr
So it's pretty obvious White isn't pulling it's weight, so let's make a GB deck. One last note, why did I include Glissa, the Traitor? You know you want to pull off this combo:
T2: Heartless Summoning
T3: Glissa the Traitor, cast Perilous Myr for 0, it dies and shocks a creature with 2 or less toughness. Rinse and repeat infinitely
It may be cute, but it is sure powerful! Glissa herself is insane, and were just doing random thing to make her better. Even if we don't recur a Perilous Myr, getting back a Solemn never hurt anyone. Now the next step is to find good support cards in green and black:
Green:
Caravan Vigil
Birthing Pod
Rampant Growth
Black:
Altar's Reap (slowly becoming one of my favorite cards in Innistrad)
Despise
There's not a lot of support cards to work with, nor do we want many because of the nature of Heartless Summoning, but Birthing Pod as a support card really makes me think. I'm going to build a list without Birthing Pod first, and then try Birthing Pod in the deck to see if it runs differently.
3x Acidic Slime
2x Hollowhenge Scavenger
4x Entomber Exarch
4x Phyrexian Rager
1x Sheolred, Whispering One
2x Grave Titan
4x Skinrender
2x Bloodgift Demon
1x Morkrut Banshee
3x Solemn Simulcrum
1x Steel Hellkite
2x Perilious Myr
2x Glissa, the Traitor
4x Heartless Summoning
4x Woodland Cemetery
11x Swamp
10x Forest
And by adding Birthing Pod, I would shave sume numbers and ultimately spread out the curve into something more like this:
2x Acidic Slime
2x Hollowhenge Scavenger
3x Entomber Exarch
3x Phyrexian Rager
1x Sheolred, Whispering One
1x Grave Titan
3x Skinrender
2x Bloodgift Demon
2x Morkrut Banshee
3x Solemn Simulcrum
1x Steel Hellkite
2x Perilious Myr
2x Glissa, the Traitor
1x Viridian Emissary
4x Heartless Summoning
3x Birthing Pod
4x Woodland Cemetery
11x Swamp
10x Forest
Speaking of curve, both these decks have a high one! That means they are going to play slower, so hopefully they are more impactful. Obviously that poblem is eshewed by using Heartless Summoning. One thing I really like about using Heartless Summoning and Birthing Pod together is that for the cost it would have been to cast a creature, you can cast them and also Pod them into somethign bigger. How awesome would it be to play a turn 4 Skinrender and then immediatly turn it into a Morkrut Banshee? Just immediatly kill 2 of their creatures and have a 3/3 to do some extra legwork! Or maybe you play a Grave Titan and then immediatly turn it into a Sheolred. Then on your upkeep you get your Grave Titan back anyways, so the cost was minimal, but the board position was quite noticeable.
Bloodgift Demon is incredible with Heartless Summoning! Phyrexian Arena was already a great card, and now we get a 4/3 to do battle along side it! Bloodgift is one of those "must answer" cards, or else your opponent may find themselves lost under the sheer weight of card and mana advantage.
I feel like Birthing Pod could really help put Heartless Summoning over the edge, as having neither in your opening 7 means you probably don't know how to mulligan. Just another example of the cool decks that are becoming possible thanks to Innistrad! I'm scouring the spoiler trying to extract more options, and I will be sure to post any that are worthwhile! Until next time, Stay Classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Monday, September 19, 2011
Zombies and Vampires and Milling, Oh My!
Hello everybody! Today is a very exciting day as Innistrad has now been completely spoiled online. You can click here to go to the full visual spoiler (which means I can reference card names without inserting pictures). Now I haven't been able to look at the spoiler list too long, so I don't have a thorough understanding of all the cards and possible interactions between them, so I'm going to put out 3 basic themed decks, and hopefully soon I can start to make some more less obvious decks. So let's start things off with a Zombies deck:
4x Skinrender
4x Cemetery Reaper
3x Gravedigger
4x Diregraf Ghoul
4x Ghoulraiser
1x Grave Titan
4x Liliana of the Veil
4x Ghoulcaller's Chant
4x Altar's Reap
2x Zombie Infestation
4x Smallpox
22x Swamp
This deck is designed to play more like an attrition deck that can randomly have aggressive starts. A turn 1 Diregraf Ghoul is a very fast way to start the game, but you can also grind out games with cards like Liliana and Smallpox and mitigate the negatives from those cards with Ghoulcaller's Chant (can I say real quick that this card is incredible!!), Gravedigger, and Ghoulraiser. Altar's Reap takes those cards that allow you to recurse your creatures and turn it into strict card advantage. Also, there is a miser Grave Titan for those moments when you just have to go over the top.
4x Crossway Vampire
4x Stromkirk Noble
4x Hero of Oxid Ridge
4x Stormblood Berserker
4x Furnace Scamp
4x Goblin Wardriver
4x Koth of the Hammer
2x Traitorous Blood
3x Incinerate
4x Brimstone Volley
23x Mountain
This deck was originally going to be a Vampire deck when I started designing it. I knew there were lots of good vampires in red and I was sure there would be something in black as well. As I was looking into it more though, I realized there wasn't alot of good vampires overall, and there wasn't too much of a reason to go tribal. Sure, theres Bloodline Keeper and Olivia Voldaren, but that's about where it ends. Ultimately I learned 2 things from building this deck: how Vampires needs a lot more to be good (slith isn't too great of an ability IMHO), and this is approximately what I would expect RDW to look like in the coming weeks. One card that I am excited for is Traitorous Blood. Act of Treason with bonus trample is very exciting, and could possibly be the card to push a final attack through.
4x Armored Skaab
2x Skaab Ruinator
4x Mindshrieker
3x Snapcaster Mage
2x Boneyard Wurm
4x Splinterfright
4x Jace's Archivest
4x Visions of Beyond
2x Noxious Revival
4x Forbidden Alchemy
2x Mulch
1x Ancient Grudge
4x Hinterland Harbor
7x Forest
13x Island
This deck was very difficult to put together, and even now I am not too comfortable with how it sits. The ultimate goal of this deck is to make a deck that can crush its opponents under the weight of sheer card advantage. I hear Snapcaster Mage flashing backAncestral Recall Visions of Beyond is really good! As I started throwing cards on the page with approximate numbers, I wound up with an 80 card deck, so being able to cut down to a clean 60 was quite the task! Overall, I feel this deck is sitting on a lot of potential, but the numbers aren't quite there yet. I wonder if having Skaab Ruinator, Splinterfright, and Snapcaster Mage all together in a deck can even work! They are all based off the graveyard, but they want different resources. casting Skaab Ruinator makes Splinterfright weaker, and to use those aformentioned cards, you have to have a high density of creatures, which makes Snapcaster Mage bad.... There's absolutely a graveyard deck out there, it is just yet to be uncovered!
Hopefully as I become more in touch with Innistrad, I will start to be able to produce more innovative decks that may not be so obvious right off the bat. But until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
4x Skinrender
4x Cemetery Reaper
3x Gravedigger
4x Diregraf Ghoul
4x Ghoulraiser
1x Grave Titan
4x Liliana of the Veil
4x Ghoulcaller's Chant
4x Altar's Reap
2x Zombie Infestation
4x Smallpox
22x Swamp
This deck is designed to play more like an attrition deck that can randomly have aggressive starts. A turn 1 Diregraf Ghoul is a very fast way to start the game, but you can also grind out games with cards like Liliana and Smallpox and mitigate the negatives from those cards with Ghoulcaller's Chant (can I say real quick that this card is incredible!!), Gravedigger, and Ghoulraiser. Altar's Reap takes those cards that allow you to recurse your creatures and turn it into strict card advantage. Also, there is a miser Grave Titan for those moments when you just have to go over the top.
4x Crossway Vampire
4x Stromkirk Noble
4x Hero of Oxid Ridge
4x Stormblood Berserker
4x Furnace Scamp
4x Goblin Wardriver
4x Koth of the Hammer
2x Traitorous Blood
3x Incinerate
4x Brimstone Volley
23x Mountain
This deck was originally going to be a Vampire deck when I started designing it. I knew there were lots of good vampires in red and I was sure there would be something in black as well. As I was looking into it more though, I realized there wasn't alot of good vampires overall, and there wasn't too much of a reason to go tribal. Sure, theres Bloodline Keeper and Olivia Voldaren, but that's about where it ends. Ultimately I learned 2 things from building this deck: how Vampires needs a lot more to be good (slith isn't too great of an ability IMHO), and this is approximately what I would expect RDW to look like in the coming weeks. One card that I am excited for is Traitorous Blood. Act of Treason with bonus trample is very exciting, and could possibly be the card to push a final attack through.
4x Armored Skaab
2x Skaab Ruinator
4x Mindshrieker
3x Snapcaster Mage
2x Boneyard Wurm
4x Splinterfright
4x Jace's Archivest
4x Visions of Beyond
2x Noxious Revival
4x Forbidden Alchemy
2x Mulch
1x Ancient Grudge
4x Hinterland Harbor
7x Forest
13x Island
This deck was very difficult to put together, and even now I am not too comfortable with how it sits. The ultimate goal of this deck is to make a deck that can crush its opponents under the weight of sheer card advantage. I hear Snapcaster Mage flashing back
Hopefully as I become more in touch with Innistrad, I will start to be able to produce more innovative decks that may not be so obvious right off the bat. But until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Sunday, September 18, 2011
Standard Combo Elves!
Hello everybody! One of the things I love to do whenever I read an article online, even if it's not a magic article, is to spend a few minutes and read the comments. While many may fear that we are becoming slowly dumber and dumber with each wave of new kids entering our schools, there are some people out there who have great ideas (am I one of them? hopefully...). Today, I was reading an article by Craig Wescoe on the only subject I really care about right now: Post Rotation Standard. He based his article by pointing out various interesting cards and discusses their potential viability going forwards.
One of the cards that he discussed that I have also talked about previously is Mentor of the Meek. He was talking about how good it will be in a Puresteel Paladin deck (beat you there Wescoe!), but in the comments someone offered a great pearl of wisdom: "Have you thought about some sort of G/W combo elves with mentor? archdruid is the only elf lord that pumps and so keeps your elves small enough to draw off of. Fresh meat and ezuri allow for wrath protection." To which someone responded: "Zero elves in INN :(" Talk about taking a great idea and not even running with it! I actually was really intruiged by that comment, so I'm going to see what kind of a deck can be built with the card draw power of Mentor of the Meek + Elvish Archdruid:
4x Elvish Archdruid
4x Mentor of the Meek
4x Llanowar Elves
4x Copperhorn Scout
3x Ezuri, Renegade Leader
4x Gladecover Scout
2x Ezuri's Archers
3x Mikeaus, the Lunarch
4x Avacyn's Pilgrim
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Green Sun's Zenith
4x Razorverge Thicket
4x Sunpetal Grove
2x Gavony Township
12x Forest
Obviously this combo isn't as good in Standard as is the Modern (Cloudstone Curio) and Legacy (Glimpse of Nature) versions, but it is powerful nonetheless. In case you don't know how this combo works, basically, you use all of your lands and mana proucing creatures not named Elvish Archdruid to make guys and draw cards off of Mentor of the Meek until you have a huge board position. Then, using Elvish Archdruid you can produce a ton of mana which lets you play out a ton of creatures and draw an insane amount of cards. Eventually you run out of mana and you can swing in for a deadly attack next turn. Ezuri is a great win condition with an instant speed Overrun while also offering protection. Also, with Copperhorn Scout, you can untap all your elves, including Elvish Ardruid, then retap the druid to use the overrun ability multiple times in one swing!
Will this deck be tier 1? I don't know... Will it be a blast to play? Absolutely! Before I go, I want to put down one more decklist as an update to the Puresteel Paladin deck from a few weeks ago. This version adds blue, and is probably the most reminiscent of Caw-Blade out there:
4x Puresteel Paladin
4x Mentor of the Meek
4x Invisible Stalker
2x Trinket Mage
1x Fiend Hunter
1x Leonin Relic-Warder
3x Mirran Crusader
4x Memnite
4x Mana Leak
3x Dismember
2x Stoic Rebuttal
2x Dispatch
3x Sword of War and Peace
3x Sword of Feast and Famine
2x Mox Opal
3x Moorland Haunt
4x Seachrome Coast
4x Glacial Fortress
5x Plains
2x Island
That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
One of the cards that he discussed that I have also talked about previously is Mentor of the Meek. He was talking about how good it will be in a Puresteel Paladin deck (beat you there Wescoe!), but in the comments someone offered a great pearl of wisdom: "Have you thought about some sort of G/W combo elves with mentor? archdruid is the only elf lord that pumps and so keeps your elves small enough to draw off of. Fresh meat and ezuri allow for wrath protection." To which someone responded: "Zero elves in INN :(" Talk about taking a great idea and not even running with it! I actually was really intruiged by that comment, so I'm going to see what kind of a deck can be built with the card draw power of Mentor of the Meek + Elvish Archdruid:
4x Elvish Archdruid
4x Mentor of the Meek
4x Llanowar Elves
4x Copperhorn Scout
3x Ezuri, Renegade Leader
4x Gladecover Scout
2x Ezuri's Archers
3x Mikeaus, the Lunarch
4x Avacyn's Pilgrim
4x Birds of Paradise
4x Green Sun's Zenith
4x Razorverge Thicket
4x Sunpetal Grove
2x Gavony Township
12x Forest
Obviously this combo isn't as good in Standard as is the Modern (Cloudstone Curio) and Legacy (Glimpse of Nature) versions, but it is powerful nonetheless. In case you don't know how this combo works, basically, you use all of your lands and mana proucing creatures not named Elvish Archdruid to make guys and draw cards off of Mentor of the Meek until you have a huge board position. Then, using Elvish Archdruid you can produce a ton of mana which lets you play out a ton of creatures and draw an insane amount of cards. Eventually you run out of mana and you can swing in for a deadly attack next turn. Ezuri is a great win condition with an instant speed Overrun while also offering protection. Also, with Copperhorn Scout, you can untap all your elves, including Elvish Ardruid, then retap the druid to use the overrun ability multiple times in one swing!
Will this deck be tier 1? I don't know... Will it be a blast to play? Absolutely! Before I go, I want to put down one more decklist as an update to the Puresteel Paladin deck from a few weeks ago. This version adds blue, and is probably the most reminiscent of Caw-Blade out there:
4x Puresteel Paladin
4x Mentor of the Meek
4x Invisible Stalker
2x Trinket Mage
1x Fiend Hunter
1x Leonin Relic-Warder
3x Mirran Crusader
4x Memnite
4x Mana Leak
3x Dismember
2x Stoic Rebuttal
2x Dispatch
3x Sword of War and Peace
3x Sword of Feast and Famine
2x Mox Opal
3x Moorland Haunt
4x Seachrome Coast
4x Glacial Fortress
5x Plains
2x Island
That's all I have for today! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Friday, September 16, 2011
Nothing is Ever Truly Dead
Hello everybody! Innistrad Spoilers have been pouring in by the dozen recently! As of right now, there are 175 cards spoiled out of the 264 in the set,although only 14 Mythics have been spoiled thus far. Overall, we have a very good idea of what this set is going to be all about, and we know a ton of essential cards that will help define Standard going forwards. Today, in BDM's preview article, he released the much anticipated Zombify. Except it's not quite Zombify... Check it out:
So basically it a Rise from the Grave that becomes a Breath of Life! I can't possibly think of any card I would ever want to get into play turn 5... oh hey there Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur what's up? The big problem with Jin-Gitaxias is that there Dismember card. But Unburial Rights is awesome because it has FLASHBACK!!! Now you can bring back Jin-Gitaxias, terrify your opponent, force them to burn a Dismember on it. Then you can untap, play an island, bring back Jin-Gitaxias AGAIN, and then mana leak whatever they have to try and kill it. If you have ever played against Jin-Gitaxias before, you know the game just ends right there. This would be some kind of an Esper deck, though there's almost no need for much white at all beyond the flashback. BDM had a ton of cards listed as to make a cool deck, but never posted a decklist. Here's the decklist I think would be good:
4x Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
2x Grave Titan
3x Solemn Simulcrum
3x Merfolk Looter
4x Liliana of the Veil
4x Forbidden Alchemy
4x Unburial Rites
4x Ponder
4x Mana Leak
2x Dismember
1x Go for the Throat
1x Plains
5x Island
4x Swamp
4x Isolated Chapel
4x Darkslick Shores
3x Nephalia Drownyard
4x Drowned Catacombs
So the first plan for this deck is to dump a Jin-Gitaxias into the yard and then bring it back with an Unburial Rites. There are many ways to do this ranging from Liliana to Merfolk Looter to this newfangled card Forbidden Alchemy... Can we see that up on the screen Chuck?
Oh hey! Check that out! While this card by no means garuntee that you will get a fattie in the yard, it does do a fantastic job of digging through your deck quickly to find the combo pieces you need. Imagine playing a Ponder and seeing Jin-Gitaxias in the top 3. You could put him on the bottom of the 3, then draw the first card. Your nect turn, you would draw card number 2, then cast Forbidden Alchemy dumping Jin Gitaxias in the graveyard. You know what other card does great in the graveyard? Unburial Rites! It is absolutely viable to take a Mana Leak out of the top 4, dumping Jin-Gitaxias and Unburial Rites in the GY. Then untap (oh yeah, Fobidden Alchemy is an Instant!) and go all Breath of Life on their face with mana leak backup. What's that? Did you just draw 3 cards for 3 mana at instant speed? Sounds fair!
However, this deck doesn't stop there! 2 Grave Titans means this deck has game still even if for some reason Jin-Gitaxias doesn't get there, making this deck similar to traditional UB Control. I'm thinking I may want to put some Despises in there, maybe I replace the Merfolk Looters? Also a board sweeper wouldn't be bad either. One thing that's awesome about Reanimator decks, is that you can have a toolbox sideboard. For example, let's say a weenie tribal deck emerges like Humans or Vampires (or even Werewolves in the daytime) we can board in a card like Elesh Norn! Talk about domination! Just completely wrath your opponent's board then take a few swings to win the game once your opponent is completely locked out!
Now, it is terribly important to mention 1 specific card: Nihil Spellbomb. I don't even need to explain how this card will ruin your day mid-combo, so it is absolutely essential you have a sideboard plan when that does hit play. One idea is to simply bring in Mental Misstep and counter the Bomb. But that's boring...
A much cooler idea is to board out your combo in games 2 and 3 and play traditional UB Control. That's a good reason to remove Merfolk Looter from the Maindeck for Despise, because then we would have to sideboard out 8 cards to have a transformative sideboard: 4x Jin Gitaxias and 4x Unburial Rites. An 8 card board to make a tradional UB Control might look like this:
1x Despise
3x Black Sun's Zenith
2x Stoic Rebuttal
2x Hex Parasite
And then we still have another 7 slots in our board! Mental Misstep will probably work it's way in there, but that's still 3 slots of us being able to do absolutely anything we want with! It's nowhere near as quick or powerful as the Legacy or Modern versions of the deck, but it's powerful nonetheless.
One random point real quick: Yesterday I posted about the Werewolf deck and mentioned that the 1-drop Werewolf would probably make it's way into the deck. I figured a 0/1 that transformed into a 2/1 would have been fine for the card, but WotC made their 1-drop Werewolf quite insane!
WOW! Say hello to the new Wild Nacatl of Standard! Turn 1 you play Reckless Waif, and your opponent is in a really tough spot immediatly! Do you cast a useless ponder to prevent the transformation? Do you just take the beats? I think thanks almost single-handedly to this card that Werewolves will be the Zoo deck of the format right out of the gates! Time will tell if our white splash is even necessary, but for now I'm going to keep it. Here's the new decklist:
4x Grand Abolisher
4x Mayor of Avabruck
4x Instigator Gang
4x Kruin Outlaw
4x Gatstaf Shephard
2x Village Ironsmith
4x Reckless Waif
4x Moonmist
1x Full Moon's Rise
3x Silence
2x Lead the Stampede
4x Kesseg Wolf Ruin
4x Copperline Gorge
4x Razorverge Thicket
3x Clifftop Retreat
3x Plains
3x Forest
3x Mountain
26/60 cards being creatures makes Lead the Stampede draw 2.16 cards. I feel like that it could be a very good part of the deck, but that's a bell as opposed to a knut of the deck. Full Moon's Rise might not make the cut depending on how Standard develops. It only stops Day of Judgement as Black Sun's Zenith is completely unaffected by regeneration. I kinda feel like it's not going to make the cut, but sadly there's not an overabundance of great Werewolves yet. I would reccomend casually trading for these until more Werewolves are printed in the next 2 sets. Like allies, the more Werewolves there are to chose from, the better they get!
That's all I have for today! I am getting VERY excited for Innistrad! Sadly I cannot go to the pre-release, but I will force a set of Mayor of Avabruck if its the last thing I do! Well maybe not really.... But I do like the promo more than the real version (which isn't necessarily always true.... I'm looking at you Hero of Bladehold!). I'm still trying to decide what deck to play the first FNM of new standard. I think I may play Puresteel Paladin w/blue for the Unblockable Hexproof guy simply because it doesn't take too many new cards to make good. I don't think I have any hope of getting 4 Liliana by the first FNM.... But I'm out for now! Until next time, Stay Classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
So basically it a Rise from the Grave that becomes a Breath of Life! I can't possibly think of any card I would ever want to get into play turn 5... oh hey there Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur what's up? The big problem with Jin-Gitaxias is that there Dismember card. But Unburial Rights is awesome because it has FLASHBACK!!! Now you can bring back Jin-Gitaxias, terrify your opponent, force them to burn a Dismember on it. Then you can untap, play an island, bring back Jin-Gitaxias AGAIN, and then mana leak whatever they have to try and kill it. If you have ever played against Jin-Gitaxias before, you know the game just ends right there. This would be some kind of an Esper deck, though there's almost no need for much white at all beyond the flashback. BDM had a ton of cards listed as to make a cool deck, but never posted a decklist. Here's the decklist I think would be good:
4x Jin-Gitaxias, Core Augur
2x Grave Titan
3x Solemn Simulcrum
3x Merfolk Looter
4x Liliana of the Veil
4x Forbidden Alchemy
4x Unburial Rites
4x Ponder
4x Mana Leak
2x Dismember
1x Go for the Throat
1x Plains
5x Island
4x Swamp
4x Isolated Chapel
4x Darkslick Shores
3x Nephalia Drownyard
4x Drowned Catacombs
So the first plan for this deck is to dump a Jin-Gitaxias into the yard and then bring it back with an Unburial Rites. There are many ways to do this ranging from Liliana to Merfolk Looter to this newfangled card Forbidden Alchemy... Can we see that up on the screen Chuck?
Oh hey! Check that out! While this card by no means garuntee that you will get a fattie in the yard, it does do a fantastic job of digging through your deck quickly to find the combo pieces you need. Imagine playing a Ponder and seeing Jin-Gitaxias in the top 3. You could put him on the bottom of the 3, then draw the first card. Your nect turn, you would draw card number 2, then cast Forbidden Alchemy dumping Jin Gitaxias in the graveyard. You know what other card does great in the graveyard? Unburial Rites! It is absolutely viable to take a Mana Leak out of the top 4, dumping Jin-Gitaxias and Unburial Rites in the GY. Then untap (oh yeah, Fobidden Alchemy is an Instant!) and go all Breath of Life on their face with mana leak backup. What's that? Did you just draw 3 cards for 3 mana at instant speed? Sounds fair!
However, this deck doesn't stop there! 2 Grave Titans means this deck has game still even if for some reason Jin-Gitaxias doesn't get there, making this deck similar to traditional UB Control. I'm thinking I may want to put some Despises in there, maybe I replace the Merfolk Looters? Also a board sweeper wouldn't be bad either. One thing that's awesome about Reanimator decks, is that you can have a toolbox sideboard. For example, let's say a weenie tribal deck emerges like Humans or Vampires (or even Werewolves in the daytime) we can board in a card like Elesh Norn! Talk about domination! Just completely wrath your opponent's board then take a few swings to win the game once your opponent is completely locked out!
Now, it is terribly important to mention 1 specific card: Nihil Spellbomb. I don't even need to explain how this card will ruin your day mid-combo, so it is absolutely essential you have a sideboard plan when that does hit play. One idea is to simply bring in Mental Misstep and counter the Bomb. But that's boring...
A much cooler idea is to board out your combo in games 2 and 3 and play traditional UB Control. That's a good reason to remove Merfolk Looter from the Maindeck for Despise, because then we would have to sideboard out 8 cards to have a transformative sideboard: 4x Jin Gitaxias and 4x Unburial Rites. An 8 card board to make a tradional UB Control might look like this:
1x Despise
3x Black Sun's Zenith
2x Stoic Rebuttal
2x Hex Parasite
And then we still have another 7 slots in our board! Mental Misstep will probably work it's way in there, but that's still 3 slots of us being able to do absolutely anything we want with! It's nowhere near as quick or powerful as the Legacy or Modern versions of the deck, but it's powerful nonetheless.
One random point real quick: Yesterday I posted about the Werewolf deck and mentioned that the 1-drop Werewolf would probably make it's way into the deck. I figured a 0/1 that transformed into a 2/1 would have been fine for the card, but WotC made their 1-drop Werewolf quite insane!
WOW! Say hello to the new Wild Nacatl of Standard! Turn 1 you play Reckless Waif, and your opponent is in a really tough spot immediatly! Do you cast a useless ponder to prevent the transformation? Do you just take the beats? I think thanks almost single-handedly to this card that Werewolves will be the Zoo deck of the format right out of the gates! Time will tell if our white splash is even necessary, but for now I'm going to keep it. Here's the new decklist:
4x Grand Abolisher
4x Mayor of Avabruck
4x Instigator Gang
4x Kruin Outlaw
4x Gatstaf Shephard
2x Village Ironsmith
4x Reckless Waif
4x Moonmist
1x Full Moon's Rise
3x Silence
2x Lead the Stampede
4x Kesseg Wolf Ruin
4x Copperline Gorge
4x Razorverge Thicket
3x Clifftop Retreat
3x Plains
3x Forest
3x Mountain
26/60 cards being creatures makes Lead the Stampede draw 2.16 cards. I feel like that it could be a very good part of the deck, but that's a bell as opposed to a knut of the deck. Full Moon's Rise might not make the cut depending on how Standard develops. It only stops Day of Judgement as Black Sun's Zenith is completely unaffected by regeneration. I kinda feel like it's not going to make the cut, but sadly there's not an overabundance of great Werewolves yet. I would reccomend casually trading for these until more Werewolves are printed in the next 2 sets. Like allies, the more Werewolves there are to chose from, the better they get!
That's all I have for today! I am getting VERY excited for Innistrad! Sadly I cannot go to the pre-release, but I will force a set of Mayor of Avabruck if its the last thing I do! Well maybe not really.... But I do like the promo more than the real version (which isn't necessarily always true.... I'm looking at you Hero of Bladehold!). I'm still trying to decide what deck to play the first FNM of new standard. I think I may play Puresteel Paladin w/blue for the Unblockable Hexproof guy simply because it doesn't take too many new cards to make good. I don't think I have any hope of getting 4 Liliana by the first FNM.... But I'm out for now! Until next time, Stay Classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Thursday, September 15, 2011
This Deck Will Make you Howl
Hello Everyone! One of the easiest ways to make decks is to look for the themes in a set and build around them. Innistrad has many themes, but I haven't really built around any of them yet. There's a strong tribal theme, but it's not overly dominant. Werewolves have obviously made a howl with their transform mechanic, and Humans have been huge as they are the centerpiece of the story. But Vampires, Zombies, and Spirits are fairly lacking. I saw a facebook group yeaterday where a bunch of toys players were trying to force a BR Vampires list, but without identifying a true increntive to play Vampires.
Now, I don't necessarily know the real incentive to play Werewolves besides the cool factor, but when all your wolves have been flipped, it is a very dominant force. The trickiest part of the Werewolf deck is trying to figure out how to consistantly flip your cards. Obviously we have Moonmist for that, but I wanted something more than a one time shot. Last week I was trading with a couple guys, and this card flipped by and a huge lightbulb in my head lit up:
That's right! With Grand Abolisher in play, your opponent can't cast spells on your turn, so as long as you don't cast any spells either, all your Werewolves will transform on your opponent's upkeep. Maybe you cast Silence on their upkeep to ensure 2 spells aren't cast together and you will have a Werewolf army crashing in next turn. Werewolves are a GR tribe though, and their land is probably the best there is from the spell-land cycle. So here are our heavy hitting cards for the deck across the Naya colors:
White
Silence
Grand Abolisher
Green
Mayor of Avabruck // Howlpack Alpha
Full Moon's Rise
Moonmist
Red
Instigator Gang // Wildblood Pack
Kruin Outlaw // Terror of Kruin Pass
Land
Kesseg Wolf Ruin
These are the essential cards, but there are a couple other good value Werewolves that aren't absolutely required:
Gatstaf Shephard // Gatstaf Howler
Village Ironsmith // Ironfang
Lead the Stampede
My first raw idea for a deck would look something like this:
4x Grand Abolisher
4x Mayor of Avabruck
4x Instigator Gang
4x Kruin Outlaw
4x Gatstaf Shephard
4x Village Ironsmith
4x Moonmist
3x Full Moon's Rise
3x Silence
2x Lead the Stampede
4x Kesseg Wolf Ruin
4x Copperline Gorge
4x Razorverge Thicket
3x Clifftop Retreat
3x Plains
3x Forest
3x Mountain
One thing that is essential to mention, is that if you compare the spoiler to the flip card token, there are 2 more flip cards that have not been released yet. The first is called Cloistered Youth and it costs 1W, and the other is called Reckless Waif and costs R. Both of those would fit very well into our curve, so if their flip side is good enough, I can see this deck getting a quick update to include them. I am very excited for Reckless Waif, because I can just imagine curving that into Mayor of Avabruck, into insanity! This deck does actualy have a nice low curve with just 1 card at 4, and everything goes down from there. Could this deck be the new Zoo deck? I believe it could be!
Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Now, I don't necessarily know the real incentive to play Werewolves besides the cool factor, but when all your wolves have been flipped, it is a very dominant force. The trickiest part of the Werewolf deck is trying to figure out how to consistantly flip your cards. Obviously we have Moonmist for that, but I wanted something more than a one time shot. Last week I was trading with a couple guys, and this card flipped by and a huge lightbulb in my head lit up:
That's right! With Grand Abolisher in play, your opponent can't cast spells on your turn, so as long as you don't cast any spells either, all your Werewolves will transform on your opponent's upkeep. Maybe you cast Silence on their upkeep to ensure 2 spells aren't cast together and you will have a Werewolf army crashing in next turn. Werewolves are a GR tribe though, and their land is probably the best there is from the spell-land cycle. So here are our heavy hitting cards for the deck across the Naya colors:
White
Silence
Grand Abolisher
Green
Mayor of Avabruck // Howlpack Alpha
Full Moon's Rise
Moonmist
Red
Instigator Gang // Wildblood Pack
Kruin Outlaw // Terror of Kruin Pass
Land
Kesseg Wolf Ruin
These are the essential cards, but there are a couple other good value Werewolves that aren't absolutely required:
Gatstaf Shephard // Gatstaf Howler
Village Ironsmith // Ironfang
Lead the Stampede
My first raw idea for a deck would look something like this:
4x Grand Abolisher
4x Mayor of Avabruck
4x Instigator Gang
4x Kruin Outlaw
4x Gatstaf Shephard
4x Village Ironsmith
4x Moonmist
3x Full Moon's Rise
3x Silence
2x Lead the Stampede
4x Kesseg Wolf Ruin
4x Copperline Gorge
4x Razorverge Thicket
3x Clifftop Retreat
3x Plains
3x Forest
3x Mountain
One thing that is essential to mention, is that if you compare the spoiler to the flip card token, there are 2 more flip cards that have not been released yet. The first is called Cloistered Youth and it costs 1W, and the other is called Reckless Waif and costs R. Both of those would fit very well into our curve, so if their flip side is good enough, I can see this deck getting a quick update to include them. I am very excited for Reckless Waif, because I can just imagine curving that into Mayor of Avabruck, into insanity! This deck does actualy have a nice low curve with just 1 card at 4, and everything goes down from there. Could this deck be the new Zoo deck? I believe it could be!
Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Yawgmoth is Red with Fury
Hello everybody! I haven't done any spoiler articles for a little bit now, because there haven't been very many cards that have inspired me. However, there have been tons of cards pouring in from various sources onto MTG Salvation, and there's some incredibly interesting cards in there as well, including one that will revolutionize Storm decks from the moment it's printed! So let's not waste time and get right into it!
This card was spoiled on Blackborder.com, and man is it awesome! Even without flashback, this card would be incredible, and giving it flashback is just gravy. Instant speed copy? Think about this: your opponent could be playing Pod and have a Frost Titan out. As he enters combat, you instant speed make another Frost Titan, pay 2, and tap down his Titan. Then on your turn, you can untap and attack to lock down something essential, say his Birthing Pod! Another cool thing about the card is that it's like the catch-all doom blade against Legendary Creatures. Opponent has a Sheolred that's ruining your day? Just pay 1UU and destroy it! Opponent has a Grave Titan? Just play this card, make some trades, and just keep on pecking! This card is even useful on the offensive as I can see it being very useful with a card like Solemn Simulcrum. In fact, this card is just another great addition to all the choices you have with a Birthing Pod deck! Oh by the way.... it has flashback too! So now if the game just goes on forever, you have some important gas in the yard.
Oh cool... a common.... For some reason, the good red burn cards can never get out of the common rarity. Lightning Bolt, Searing Blaze, Staggershock, they're all commons. But the rarity doesn't matter, 5 damage for 2R matters! Grim Lavamancer is obviously a very potent card for Red Decks, and thanks to Brimstone Volley, he can really shine! He can always pick off a weak little dude on the other side of the table to enable Morbid, but he can even shoot himself to get your morbid trigger online! This is absolutely a card that I can see being heavily played in all red decks for the next 2 years!
So when I first saw this card spoiled on Daily MTG, I thought, "cool, it's flavorful, might see random play in an aggro deck of sorts..." But apparently people think this card is insane as proven by it's $15 preorder price tag! I don't get it.... It's a 2/2 land creature for 1WU! What if your opponent hasGrizzly Runeclaw Bear in play? You just have a guy who just site there trying to look good... It's a mythic, so it's importnat to know about him, but he isn't too special in my opinion in a control deck... In aggro, he is fantastic though! Although I don't know the last time I saw UW as being an aggro deck (fish aside)
He's cool... he's unique.... but wait until you see his partner in crime!
For those of you who don't know, Skaab Ruinator is one of my favorite cards to be released in Innistrad. I have been thinking a lot as to how best enable it. One idea that I was toying with was to enchant yourself with Curse of the Bloody Tomb to mill enough cards into your yard to make casting the Zombie Horror easier. Now this is a cery strict upgrade to the Curse! A Goyf trampler? Sign me up! I would talk more about it, but JVL's preview article was simply fantastic! The only things you could change about his deck was Dual Lands and Skaab Ruinator. Also, Visions of Beyond isn't a bad idea either. Aside from that, his deck looks fantastic!
There is one more card that hasn't been officially released, but we somehow have the card's text. MTG Salvation is usually very good at only having legitimate cards come through, so I can start to get excited. I present to you Yawgmoth's Will (but red):
Past in Flames
Sorcery
3R
Each Instand and Sorcery card in your graveyard gains Flashback until end of turn. The flashback cost is equal to its mana cost.
Flashback 4R
WOW! THAT IS INSANE! Yesterday I wrote a ton about Storm and possible different versions of the deck and colors and a transformational sideboard option. Well, if this card is legitimate, which MTG Salvation tends to be, then Grixis is the colors to be! Imagine storming like this:
1 - Lotus Petal
2 - LED
3 - Dark Ritual
4 - Rite of Flame
5 - Infernal Tutor
6 - Past in Flames
7 - FB Dark Ritual
8 - FB Rite of Flame
9 - FB Infernal Tutor
10 - Tendrils of Agony
Or how about this one?
1 - Dark Ritual
2 - Rite of Flame
3 - Past in Flames
4 - FB Dark Ritual
5 - FB Rite of Flame
6 - Tendrils of Agony
7 - FB Tendrils of Agony
If you're tracking mana at home, I know the numbers don't exactly work, but the point is you could storm your opponent out by doubling up on all your mana ramp (a total of 6 cards were used in example 1) or you could just flashback Tendrils itself at storm 5 and 6 or more (a total of 4 cards were used in example 2). Basically, I think Past in Flames will immediatly replace Il-Gotten Gains in Storm decks, and thus will be FAR more resiliant to counterspell decks. Usually you would cast Ad Nauseum bcause you don't want your opponent getting counterspells and Brainstorms back, but now that's not even a worry. I would dare say you may even cut Ad Nauseum from your ANT deck, renaming it to just "Storm". There are many deckbuilding possibilities, including cutting black from the deck and going for a UR version, maybe running Pyromancer's Swath and Grapeshot like in Modern. You would obviously lose Duress effects, but you would be able to add FoW and other disruption cards! This card is terribly exciting, and I really hope it comes out as advertised!
That's all I have for today! I am absolutely loving Innistrad and all it has to offer for eager deckbuilders such as myself! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
This card was spoiled on Blackborder.com, and man is it awesome! Even without flashback, this card would be incredible, and giving it flashback is just gravy. Instant speed copy? Think about this: your opponent could be playing Pod and have a Frost Titan out. As he enters combat, you instant speed make another Frost Titan, pay 2, and tap down his Titan. Then on your turn, you can untap and attack to lock down something essential, say his Birthing Pod! Another cool thing about the card is that it's like the catch-all doom blade against Legendary Creatures. Opponent has a Sheolred that's ruining your day? Just pay 1UU and destroy it! Opponent has a Grave Titan? Just play this card, make some trades, and just keep on pecking! This card is even useful on the offensive as I can see it being very useful with a card like Solemn Simulcrum. In fact, this card is just another great addition to all the choices you have with a Birthing Pod deck! Oh by the way.... it has flashback too! So now if the game just goes on forever, you have some important gas in the yard.
Oh cool... a common.... For some reason, the good red burn cards can never get out of the common rarity. Lightning Bolt, Searing Blaze, Staggershock, they're all commons. But the rarity doesn't matter, 5 damage for 2R matters! Grim Lavamancer is obviously a very potent card for Red Decks, and thanks to Brimstone Volley, he can really shine! He can always pick off a weak little dude on the other side of the table to enable Morbid, but he can even shoot himself to get your morbid trigger online! This is absolutely a card that I can see being heavily played in all red decks for the next 2 years!
So when I first saw this card spoiled on Daily MTG, I thought, "cool, it's flavorful, might see random play in an aggro deck of sorts..." But apparently people think this card is insane as proven by it's $15 preorder price tag! I don't get it.... It's a 2/2 land creature for 1WU! What if your opponent has
He's cool... he's unique.... but wait until you see his partner in crime!
For those of you who don't know, Skaab Ruinator is one of my favorite cards to be released in Innistrad. I have been thinking a lot as to how best enable it. One idea that I was toying with was to enchant yourself with Curse of the Bloody Tomb to mill enough cards into your yard to make casting the Zombie Horror easier. Now this is a cery strict upgrade to the Curse! A Goyf trampler? Sign me up! I would talk more about it, but JVL's preview article was simply fantastic! The only things you could change about his deck was Dual Lands and Skaab Ruinator. Also, Visions of Beyond isn't a bad idea either. Aside from that, his deck looks fantastic!
There is one more card that hasn't been officially released, but we somehow have the card's text. MTG Salvation is usually very good at only having legitimate cards come through, so I can start to get excited. I present to you Yawgmoth's Will (but red):
Past in Flames
Sorcery
3R
Each Instand and Sorcery card in your graveyard gains Flashback until end of turn. The flashback cost is equal to its mana cost.
Flashback 4R
WOW! THAT IS INSANE! Yesterday I wrote a ton about Storm and possible different versions of the deck and colors and a transformational sideboard option. Well, if this card is legitimate, which MTG Salvation tends to be, then Grixis is the colors to be! Imagine storming like this:
1 - Lotus Petal
2 - LED
3 - Dark Ritual
4 - Rite of Flame
5 - Infernal Tutor
6 - Past in Flames
7 - FB Dark Ritual
8 - FB Rite of Flame
9 - FB Infernal Tutor
10 - Tendrils of Agony
Or how about this one?
1 - Dark Ritual
2 - Rite of Flame
3 - Past in Flames
4 - FB Dark Ritual
5 - FB Rite of Flame
6 - Tendrils of Agony
7 - FB Tendrils of Agony
If you're tracking mana at home, I know the numbers don't exactly work, but the point is you could storm your opponent out by doubling up on all your mana ramp (a total of 6 cards were used in example 1) or you could just flashback Tendrils itself at storm 5 and 6 or more (a total of 4 cards were used in example 2). Basically, I think Past in Flames will immediatly replace Il-Gotten Gains in Storm decks, and thus will be FAR more resiliant to counterspell decks. Usually you would cast Ad Nauseum bcause you don't want your opponent getting counterspells and Brainstorms back, but now that's not even a worry. I would dare say you may even cut Ad Nauseum from your ANT deck, renaming it to just "Storm". There are many deckbuilding possibilities, including cutting black from the deck and going for a UR version, maybe running Pyromancer's Swath and Grapeshot like in Modern. You would obviously lose Duress effects, but you would be able to add FoW and other disruption cards! This card is terribly exciting, and I really hope it comes out as advertised!
That's all I have for today! I am absolutely loving Innistrad and all it has to offer for eager deckbuilders such as myself! Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Tuesday, September 13, 2011
Playing Legacy Ad Nauseam
Some people say that storm is the most broken mechanic of all time. While they may be true, it's very far from being the easiest most overpowered mechanic to use. I would probably say something like affinity is the most overpowered easy to use mechanic ever printed. Just make a pile of artifacts, and you can make everything with affinity cost 0. Easy as that. Storm, on the other hand, is mind-blowingly complicated! There are so many ways you can go with your deck, it's simply incredible! For starters, for those of you who haven't been playing for a long time, here's the basics on storm:
Storm: When you cast this spell, copy it for each spell cast before it this turn
Sounds fair, right? After all, there's only so much mana and so many cards in your hand, this couldn't be absurd. Well, then you add cards like Dark Ritual and Ad Nauseam and you see how we just trumped those 2 restrictions. There are 7 cards with the storm mechanic that can win a game by themselves:
Dragonstorm
Hunting Pack
Grapeshot
Empty the Warrens
Brain Freeze
Ignite Memories
Tendrils of Agony
The most popular of these in Legacy is of course Tendrils of Agony. However, Brainfreeze and Empty the Warrens have been used as alternate win conditions in other decks that aren't built around storm (High Tide and Charbelcher). Other storm cards have been used in other formats, most famously Dragonstorm, Grapeshot, Ignite Memories, and Empty the Warrens from the 2007 World Championships. Also recently, Grapeshot was used with Pyromancer's Swath in a storm deck in Modern (played by Conley Woods among others).
Storm decks are incredibly difficult to build, never mind tune to gain an advantage on the field. I will be focusing on Legacy storm which, as I said, traditionally runs Tendrils of Agony as it's win condition. Let's take a look at one of the original storm decks, albeit with modern cards, called TES or The Epic Storm:
3x Gemstone Mine
2x City of Brass
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Underground Sea
1x Island
1x Swamp
1x Volcanic Island
1x Polluted Delta
1x Bloodstained Mire
4x Dark Ritual
4x Rite of Flame
4x Lion’s Eye Diamond
4x Lotus Petal
4x Chrome Mox
4x Burning Wish
4x Brainstorm
4x Ponder
4x Infernal Tutor
4x Duress
2x Orim’s Chant
1x Thoughtseize
2x Ad Nauseam
1x Tendrils of Agony
Sideboard:
3x Defense Grid
2x Echoing Truth
2x Deathmark
1x Diminishing Returns
1x Ill-Gotten Gains
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Empty the Warrens
1x Grapeshot
1x Thoughtseize
1x Meltdown
1x Shattering Spree
With just 14 lands, this deck is all gas! Or is it? Let's compartmentalize this deck:
Mana: 34
14x lands
4x Dark Ritual
4x Rite of Flame
4x Lions Eye Diamond
4x Lotus Petal
4x Chrome Mox
Tutors/Cantrips: 18
4x Burning Wish
4x Brainstorm
4x Ponder
4x Infernal Tutor
2x Ad Nauseam
Disruption: 7
4x Duress
2x Orim's Chant
1x Thoughtseize
Win Condition: 1
1x Tendrils of Agony
TES is designed to be faster by using the best every color has to offer. White is splashed solely for 2 Orim's Chants. Many lists also run Silence and Xantid Swarm as other cards to prevent countermagic. Now Magic is wonderful because of it's mana system. To get the best of each color, something has got to give, and that something is the mana base. Gemstone Mine only gets 3 uses, City of Brass deals you damage (reduces the number of cards than can be drawn off Ad Nauseum), and the other cards may not add the kind of mana you really want. Because of this, a different storm deck was designed simply named Ad Nauseum Tendrils, or ANT:
4x Dark Ritual
4x Cabal Ritual
4x Thoughtseize
4x Duress
4x Preordain
4x Ponder
4x Brainstorm
4x Lion's Eye Diamond
4x Infernal Tutor
4x Lotus Petal
1x Chrome Mox
1x Ad Nauseum
1x Il-Gotten Gains
1x Tendrils of Agony
2x Underground Sea
3x Island
2x Swamp
4x Polluted Delta
3x Misty Rainforest
2x Verdant Catacombs
Sideboard:
1x Tropical Island
4x Xantid Swarm
4x Dark Confidant
1x Extirpate
1x Jace, the Mind Sculptor
3x Chain of Vapor
1x Echoing Truth
Mana: 33
16x Land
4x Dark Ritual
4x Cabal Ritual
4x Lotus Petal
4x Lion's Eye Diamond
1x Chrome Mox
Tutors/Cantrips: 18
4x Preordain
4x Ponder
4x Brainstorm
4x Infernal Tutor
1x Ad Nauseum
1x Il-Gotten Gains
Disruption: 8
4x Thoughtseize
4x Duress
Win Conditions: 1
1x Tendrils of Agony
This deck was designed to beat Wastelands decks with a stronger manabase. This deck loses a little speed by having less mana sources, but is more resiliant with more disruption. "But wait! All the numbers are the exact same except for that 1 card difference!" Remember when I said this isn't an easy deck to build? These very subtle tweaks on the numbers make a world of a difference! Several pages of forums have been eaten up debating 1 Ad Nauseum or 2. I personally am in the 1 camp, although I think I may try out having 2 next time around the block.
Now, there's always the desire the come up with the best, most perfect lists out there and take the pros of every deck and make it work together. So how can we utilize the power that is adding red to the deck while still having a wastelands-proof mana base? Here's my try:
4x Dark Ritual
4x Rite of Flame
3x Chrome Mox
4x Infernal Tutor
4x Burning Wish
4x Lion's Eye Diamond
4x Duress
3x Thoughtseize
4x Brainstorm
4x Preordain
4x Lotus Petal
1x Ad Nauseum
1x Il-Gotten Gains
1x Tendrils of Agony
4x Poluted Delta
2x Scalding Tarn
2x Bloodstained Mire
2x Underground Sea
1x Volcanic Island
2x Island
2x Swamp
1x Mountain
Sideboard:
4x Dark Confidant
2x Echoing Truth
1x Chain of Vapor
1x Deathmark
1x Diminishing Returns
1x Ill-Gotten Gains
1x Tendrils of Agony
1x Empty the Warrens
1x Thoughtseize
1x Meltdown
1x Shattering Spree
Will this deck work? I don't know, but I sure want to try it out! Burning Wish seems like an incredibly exciting card for me to play with, because there are so many unique cards it can grab. One that's very exciting is Deathmark. Being able to tutor up this card, which allows you to destroy hate bears like Ethersworn Canonist or Gaddok Teeg is absolutely essential! Another card that is simply delightful to see is Meltdown. I didn't know this card existed, but I am very glad it's here! A deck like Stax is impossible to beat unless you get the turn 1 kill because of all their maindeck hosers like Chalice of the Void, Trinisphere, and Lodestone Golem. However, those cards are all artifacts, so a 4 mana Meltdown is completely backbreaking! I honestly don't know how well this deck will work, but Storm is all about difficult deckbuilding, so you just have to keep on trying!
While I was writing this post, I was cruising forums at the same time, and an idea someone mentioned that blew my mind was to have a transformational sideboard. In the past, ANT has had a Doomsday transformational sideboard against Counterbalance.
Quick Aside
{
For those of you who don't know what the Doomsday combo is, here's the 5 second version:
Cast Doomsday, make a doomsday stack of (from top to bottom):
-Brainstorm
-Shelldock Isle
-Cloud of Faeries
-Emrakul, the Aeons Torn
-Solitary Confinement
Then you cast Brainstorm, putting Emrakul and any other card back on top so you have Shelldock Isle and Cloud of Faeries in hand
Play Shelldock Isle, hiding Emrakul underneath it
Cast Cloud of Faeries, untapping Shelldock Isle and a blue source
Cast Emrakul with Shelldock Isle
Win
There's obviously A LOT more to it, but that's a very simple way for it to work. The Solitary Confinement prevents you from decking yourself, but other stacks are popular. I am not well versed enough in the deck to go into any more detail...
}
End Aside
However, instead of using the Doomsday sideboard, which loses to Wastelands pretty hard, he suggested sideboarding in Phyrexian Obliterators and Tombstalkers! Everyone cuts all their anti-creature cards against Storm for game 2, because they are completely dead, so these guys can drop as early as turn 1 and beat your opponent to a bloody pulp before they realize what's hit them! This sideboard plan is for ANT, and could even be extended to make it a Team America-esque deck with cards like Hymn to Tourach! Let's rewind to a possible sideboard utilizing these cards!
4x Open
4x Tombstalker
3x Hymn to Tourach
Now, it's great to have a cool transformational sideboard, but it's also very important to learn what needs to come out for the combo. Here's my suggested cuts:
-1 Tendrils of Agony
-1 Ad Nauseum
-1 Il-Gotten Gains
-4 Lion's Eye Diamond
-4 Infernal Tutor
+4 Phyrexian Obliterator
+4 Tombstalker
+3 Hymn to Tourach
I am constantly back and forth as to what the last 4 slots in the sideboard could be. At first I was thinking the obvious answer is to use Dark Confidant. However, when you think for more than 5 seconds about your sideboard plan, you realize that you would want to bring in Bob in the same matchups that we are trying out using our 5/5s. Not only do we no longer need to draw 2 cards a turn to combo out faster (because there is no combo), but we significantly increased our deck's CMC by adding in 4 drops, and 8 drops in replacement of 0 drops.
One idea I had for a card is Daze. I figure there are decks like Painted Stone where having the creatures may be too slow and instead you need to disrupt their plan. However, now we don't have a board against Zoo, which can pack Gaddok Teeg for hate (although besides that, the matchup is a bye).
Overall, this idea is very fresh and not thoroughly developed, but I feel it has a ton of potential. If you have any ideas, let me know in the comments, on facebook, or on twitter. Until next time, stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
Thursday, September 8, 2011
You're Milling Me Mad!
Hello everyone! Over the past two days alot of really interesting cards have been spoiled, including a couple that we could build entire decks around! So let's not waste time and get straight to the cards!
This card isn't likely to make a large amount of waves in any format beyond the casual tables, but It's important to keep tabs on all of the Mythic rares of the set. Even if we could always have a Human in play, I'm not sure how good of a card this would be, although Sphinx of Jwar Isle was a finisher in control decks for a while, that also made your draws better as you could use your fetchlands more effectively.... Overall I can't see this card going many places.
This card is very interesting and depending on where things go in the metagame this could be an allstar! Think about the Tempered Steel deck. It has the capability to dump a very large army onto the Battlefield very quickly. Granted they only get up to 4 or 5 creatures usually, which would put this spell at 4 or 5 mana (same as or worse than Day of Judgement). However, this card will be an absolute boss in Multi-player! Imagine you're playing a multiplayer game, and by the time it gets to your turn 2 or 3, theres already 6 or 7 creatures on the board, just tap 2 or 3 lands and you're in business! Even if it doesn't get played as a wrath, this card will see play in Modern as a card to pitch to Blazing Shoal. Dragonstorm was used in the Mobo-blue infect combo deck because it could be tutored for by Peer Through Depths. In the same way, Blasphemous Act can be grabbed by Peer Through Depths an be pitched to make a perfect 10. So this card will be in demand, even if it's never cast.
This, alon with the next card, looks like a cycle of lands reminiscent of the colorless lands in Ravnica block that had abilities relevant to the guilds. I think there will be a cycle of lands that have ally colored abilities that will work with each of the tribes of Innistrad. This one is obviously the Werewolf land, and I really like it. To transform werewolves, you have to not cast spells. How can you press your advantage without casting any spells? By pumping your army without even having to cast spells! This land makes any creature you have in play capable of putting your opponent on a tiny clock, especially when you go to topdeck mode! I think this card will be a 2 or maybe even a 3-of in a GR beatdown deck post rotation.
And let me tell you, this card is even more exciting! I can absolutely see this card being played in UW control decks going forward, and maybe even some aggressive strategies could use it going forward. Basically, this just gives you free value out of whatever plan you were planning on following anyways. In fact, I can see this card being played in a Skaab Ruinator deck, or in a deck that I will unveil using another card to talk about today... Basically this card is very flexible and will be used in almost every UW deck going forwards!
Oh, you want a translation? You can't read Japanese? Why not!!?? Alright... fine....
~Moorland Haunt
Land
Tap: Add 1 to your mana pool
WU, Tap, Exile a creature card from your graveyard: Put a 1/1 white spirit token with flying onto the battlefield
See? This card is going to be ballin! Even when you have no cards left in hand, you can create an army out of what you were using earlier in the game.
UB Zombies have delved a little into mill from time to time (Lich Lord of Unx), and this is just another really cool card in that department. In fact, those 2 cards would work very nice together.... I think this card will be incredibly popular in casual zombie mill decks. In fact, that reminds me of a deck from 2 years ago at camp we called "Zombie Mind Skrew" where Tony would dump an army of zombies including the Lich Lord and play a ton of mill cards like Mind Funeral until there was nothing left of your opponent's deck. I can absolutely see the Undead Alchemist being a 4-of in that deck, so you may be able to move him to those people. One last thought: you could use him as a combat trick where you swing with an army of zombies and your opponent doesn't block thinking they will just get milled 10 or 12 cards, but then you Unsummon Undead Alchemist to your hand and your opponent takes a bunch of real damage. It's janky, but it does work.
Speaking of miling, check this guy out! On Twitter today, Chas Andres (the ChannelFireball financial writer) suggested combining this card with Leveler. Right now Leveler is currently sold out on ChannelFireball at $7 a piece (8th most valuable card from the set), and sold out on SCG at $3 a piece. On TCGPlayer, the Low-Medium-High is 4.48-6.41-9.71. Yesterday it was 0.21-0.44-1.04. The deck isn't even that good, but it will be very popular in casual decks which will keep both Leveler and Labratory Maniac in the $5 range. However, this combo will never work in Modern because it loses to the Punishing Fire combo REALLY hard! Regardless, this is a great card to keep in mind if you can get it as a throw-in in a trade.
This card isn't likely to make a large amount of waves in any format beyond the casual tables, but It's important to keep tabs on all of the Mythic rares of the set. Even if we could always have a Human in play, I'm not sure how good of a card this would be, although Sphinx of Jwar Isle was a finisher in control decks for a while, that also made your draws better as you could use your fetchlands more effectively.... Overall I can't see this card going many places.
This card is very interesting and depending on where things go in the metagame this could be an allstar! Think about the Tempered Steel deck. It has the capability to dump a very large army onto the Battlefield very quickly. Granted they only get up to 4 or 5 creatures usually, which would put this spell at 4 or 5 mana (same as or worse than Day of Judgement). However, this card will be an absolute boss in Multi-player! Imagine you're playing a multiplayer game, and by the time it gets to your turn 2 or 3, theres already 6 or 7 creatures on the board, just tap 2 or 3 lands and you're in business! Even if it doesn't get played as a wrath, this card will see play in Modern as a card to pitch to Blazing Shoal. Dragonstorm was used in the Mobo-blue infect combo deck because it could be tutored for by Peer Through Depths. In the same way, Blasphemous Act can be grabbed by Peer Through Depths an be pitched to make a perfect 10. So this card will be in demand, even if it's never cast.
This, alon with the next card, looks like a cycle of lands reminiscent of the colorless lands in Ravnica block that had abilities relevant to the guilds. I think there will be a cycle of lands that have ally colored abilities that will work with each of the tribes of Innistrad. This one is obviously the Werewolf land, and I really like it. To transform werewolves, you have to not cast spells. How can you press your advantage without casting any spells? By pumping your army without even having to cast spells! This land makes any creature you have in play capable of putting your opponent on a tiny clock, especially when you go to topdeck mode! I think this card will be a 2 or maybe even a 3-of in a GR beatdown deck post rotation.
And let me tell you, this card is even more exciting! I can absolutely see this card being played in UW control decks going forward, and maybe even some aggressive strategies could use it going forward. Basically, this just gives you free value out of whatever plan you were planning on following anyways. In fact, I can see this card being played in a Skaab Ruinator deck, or in a deck that I will unveil using another card to talk about today... Basically this card is very flexible and will be used in almost every UW deck going forwards!
Oh, you want a translation? You can't read Japanese? Why not!!?? Alright... fine....
~Moorland Haunt
Land
Tap: Add 1 to your mana pool
WU, Tap, Exile a creature card from your graveyard: Put a 1/1 white spirit token with flying onto the battlefield
See? This card is going to be ballin! Even when you have no cards left in hand, you can create an army out of what you were using earlier in the game.
UB Zombies have delved a little into mill from time to time (Lich Lord of Unx), and this is just another really cool card in that department. In fact, those 2 cards would work very nice together.... I think this card will be incredibly popular in casual zombie mill decks. In fact, that reminds me of a deck from 2 years ago at camp we called "Zombie Mind Skrew" where Tony would dump an army of zombies including the Lich Lord and play a ton of mill cards like Mind Funeral until there was nothing left of your opponent's deck. I can absolutely see the Undead Alchemist being a 4-of in that deck, so you may be able to move him to those people. One last thought: you could use him as a combat trick where you swing with an army of zombies and your opponent doesn't block thinking they will just get milled 10 or 12 cards, but then you Unsummon Undead Alchemist to your hand and your opponent takes a bunch of real damage. It's janky, but it does work.
Speaking of miling, check this guy out! On Twitter today, Chas Andres (the ChannelFireball financial writer) suggested combining this card with Leveler. Right now Leveler is currently sold out on ChannelFireball at $7 a piece (8th most valuable card from the set), and sold out on SCG at $3 a piece. On TCGPlayer, the Low-Medium-High is 4.48-6.41-9.71. Yesterday it was 0.21-0.44-1.04. The deck isn't even that good, but it will be very popular in casual decks which will keep both Leveler and Labratory Maniac in the $5 range. However, this combo will never work in Modern because it loses to the Punishing Fire combo REALLY hard! Regardless, this is a great card to keep in mind if you can get it as a throw-in in a trade.
And while were on the topic of milling, let's talk about a nutty card! I have been thinking about this card all day and how it could be just used, and there are 2 prevailing possibilities: Skaab Ruinator and U/x control. The Skaab Ruinator deck is a completely new archaetype, most reminiscent of Dredge, so that will take a lot of focused time to make make work efficiently, but U/x control looks very promising. As discussed in it's preview article, it's reminiscent of Rainbow Efreet. You could use traditional creatures to buy yourself time like Squadren Hawk or Wall of Omens (maybe Oculus?) until you have enough mana to cast Mirror-Mad Phantasm and protect it. Then when you untap, you have your opponent on a 4-turn clock that they can't stop short of a Day of Judgement.
There are simply so many things to think about when using this card! For example, how many do you have in your deck? The more you have, he less you will mill in each activation, but you will draw it more frequently. Maybe you want to mill more, but that would require playing less copies, and thus reduce your odds of drawing him. What if I play a clone copying him? If there was only 1 Mirror-Mad Phantasm in the deck (which is in play), then if I activate the clone's ability, I will mill my entire deck. I can also mill my entire deck using Necrotic Ooze if the only Mirror-Mad Phantasm is in my graveyard.
But do I want to mill myself? Or is that just a nasty consequesnce of saving it from a removal spell? If I mill myself, how can I use and abuse that to gain an advantage? I can't use this in a deck that's both control AND Skaab Ruinator if I want to ever get a chance of casting the Ruinator... So there's 2 different things to work out.
That's too much to think about in just one sitting. I am willing to bet one of my articles after the pre-release when we have the full set out (I can't go to the prerelease as I will be on a Canoe trip) will be about exploring the options presented by Mirror-Mad Phantasm and Skaab Ruinator. I am willing to bet there is a fantastic deck hiding in there, I just need to unearth it.
That's all I have for today, if you have any cool ideas regarding Mirror-Mad Phantasm hit me up in the comments, email, or on Twitter. Until next time, Stay Classy!
Ryan Lackie
@ThingsILack
September 2011 Secondary Market Update
Hello everyone! It's about time I got back into the monthly secondary market updates. If you don't know what I'm talking about, basically I'm going to list the prices of the top 8 most valuable card in each standard set, and then highlight some cards of note in Modern and Legacy. I haven't had a price update since June, so the price changes will cover 2 months of change instead of 1, so keep that in mind if you see any dramatic price changes.
For all of my prices I use TCG Player Medium prices. Any change of less than 50 cents will be listed as -0-:
Magic 2012
Jace, Memory Adept 29.12 --trending down--
Garruk, Primal Hunter 26.48 --trending down--
Chandra, the Firebranded 22.83 --trending down--
Gideon Jura 16.89 --stable--
Primeval Titan 15.11 --trending down--
Solemn Simulcrum 11.53 --stable--
Phantasmal Image 10.46 --trending up--
Grave Titan 9.00 --trending down--
I feel that Jace, Garruk, and Chandra all have their values up more because of the fact they are new shiney planeswalkers more than they are actually any good. I expect them all to fallin the 8-15 range in the coming months, so trade accordingly. I did trade for a Jace recently, but only if my trade partner would value him at 18, which he eventually obliged to. I don't know why Grave Titan has been on it's way down, but it's basically because UB isn't seeing much play right now. I don't think UB will be as good post rotation. A major advantage UB has over UW is that it has hand disruption. Inquisition and Duress are being replaced by Despise and Distress, which isn't exactly a step up. Black will finally get a viable planeswalker, but shes a mixed bag of... well I can't really say nuts, but you know what I mean... Primeval Titan is still cascading down it's long fall from grace, and if you still have any I would recommend dumping him as fast as possible (if you didn't follow my advice from June). I still stand by what I said about the card getting down to 5 by Christmas
New Phyrexia
Phyrexian Obliterator 21.31 -0-
Sword of War and Peace 17.34 -7.29
Karn Liberated 14.89 -7.35
Batterskull 13.10 -9.25
Spellskite 9.78 -0-
Birthing Pod 9.04 +Alot
Phyrexian Metamorph 6.00 +approx 1
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 5.59 -0-
For all of my prices I use TCG Player Medium prices. Any change of less than 50 cents will be listed as -0-:
Magic 2012
Jace, Memory Adept 29.12 --trending down--
Garruk, Primal Hunter 26.48 --trending down--
Chandra, the Firebranded 22.83 --trending down--
Gideon Jura 16.89 --stable--
Primeval Titan 15.11 --trending down--
Solemn Simulcrum 11.53 --stable--
Phantasmal Image 10.46 --trending up--
Grave Titan 9.00 --trending down--
I feel that Jace, Garruk, and Chandra all have their values up more because of the fact they are new shiney planeswalkers more than they are actually any good. I expect them all to fallin the 8-15 range in the coming months, so trade accordingly. I did trade for a Jace recently, but only if my trade partner would value him at 18, which he eventually obliged to. I don't know why Grave Titan has been on it's way down, but it's basically because UB isn't seeing much play right now. I don't think UB will be as good post rotation. A major advantage UB has over UW is that it has hand disruption. Inquisition and Duress are being replaced by Despise and Distress, which isn't exactly a step up. Black will finally get a viable planeswalker, but shes a mixed bag of... well I can't really say nuts, but you know what I mean... Primeval Titan is still cascading down it's long fall from grace, and if you still have any I would recommend dumping him as fast as possible (if you didn't follow my advice from June). I still stand by what I said about the card getting down to 5 by Christmas
New Phyrexia
Phyrexian Obliterator 21.31 -0-
Sword of War and Peace 17.34 -7.29
Karn Liberated 14.89 -7.35
Batterskull 13.10 -9.25
Spellskite 9.78 -0-
Birthing Pod 9.04 +Alot
Phyrexian Metamorph 6.00 +approx 1
Elesh Norn, Grand Cenobite 5.59 -0-
Birthing Pod is the clear winner here, as it was about $2 before the summer started, and now it's in the top 8 for most valuable cards in the set. This is just another all too frequent example of people just netdecking instead of innovating... Everyone was talking about how Stoneforge Mystic was overpowered because it tutored and cheated on mana costs, but then they look at Birthing Pod and don't even blink an eye. Really? I just feel bad that I can't put my money where my mouth is because I was gone all summer. Regardless, it's interesting to see how Batterskull and Sword of War and Peace have completely tanked in price thanks to the loss of Stoneforge Mystic. Also interesting is the lack of price change in Phyrexian Obliterator. I don't know of any decks that use him, but maybe he will have an elevated price for it's entire life in standard like Abyssal Persecutor without ever actually getting played. I think these prices are fairly stable with Batterskull falling to 12, but with Karn going all the way down to 11.
Mirroden Beseiged
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas 25.8 -7.59
Sword of Feast and Famine 24.59 +3.14
Tezzeret, Agent of Bolas 25.8 -7.59
Sword of Feast and Famine 24.59 +3.14
Consecrated Sphinx 14.52 +Alot
Inkmoth Nexus 11.58 +1.35
Hero of Bladehold 9.28 +3.27
Inkmoth Nexus 11.58 +1.35
Hero of Bladehold 9.28 +3.27
Green Sun's Zenith 7.86 +Trending up fast in past week
Thrun, the Last Troll 6.75 -0-
Blightsteel Colossus 5.77 -0.95
Thrun, the Last Troll 6.75 -0-
Blightsteel Colossus 5.77 -0.95
I called Tezzeret dropping down to 25 in both May and June, and low and behold here he is! As of right now, I'm actually trading out Tezzeret more than I'm trading for him, and that's absolutely has something to do with that fact that we have 0 playable artifacts spoiled from Innistrad right now. On the contrary, we have Consecrated Sphinx which has exploded in price, and I expect it to stay that way for a while, as it could be the control finisher of choice for the next couple months. If you are looking for ultra long term value, Sword of Feast and Famine is your guy, as it will be a Modern, Legacy, and Commander card for years to come. Green Sun's Zenith has slid ever since it's original printing until this past week when it went up $3, which I imagine is because of Modern, but I can't be sure...
Scars of Mirroden
Koth of the Hammer 22.30 -0.75
Mox Opal 21.57 +1.91
Venser, the Sojounor 17.07 +4.84
Sword of Body and Mind 10.73 -1.33
Wurmcoil Engine 9.98 +1.64
Elspeth Tirel 9.75 -0.53
Seachrome Coast 7.62
Skithryx, the Blight Dragon 7.11 -3.54
It's nice to see something besides a field of red in the price change column. The big gainer here is obviously Venser who finally found himself a deck in the Bant Birthing Pod deck, which also brought Wurmcoil up as well. Mox Opal went up thanks to the Tempered Steel Deck. Tempered Steel itself, although not listed, would have been the #9 at the list at 6.86, so keep that in mind going forwards. Innistrad looks to not have much in red for a fast RDW deck, so Koth could take a hit because of that. I expect Venser to go down again because I feel the best version of Pod is going to be BUG pod, although Bant will still be viable. Sword of Body and Mind could go down a little more, but if it reaches 8, start scooping them up because it will absolutely go right back up after rotation. Elspeth, on the other hand, is really only going down along with Skittles to the 6 range.
Magic 2011
Jace Beleran 10.58 -0-
Baneslayer Angel 8.83 -1.17
Lilliana Vess 6.57 +0.74
Garruk Wildspeaker 5.75 -1.19
Inferno Titan 5.71 -7.72
Steel Overseer 5.18
Ajani Goldmane 5.17
Sun Titan 4.51 -1.59
Wow... There's just no money to be had in Magic 2011! I omitted Prime Time and Grave Titan because they also got top marks in 2012, but even those cards are losing value! If you still have Jace Beleran kicking around I would dump him as fast as you can, because in a couple months I expect him to drop to 6 or 7, same goes for Baneslayer. Simply put, if ANY of your cards have "M11" on them, just get rid of them ASAP!
Rise of the Eldrazi
Vengevine 16.76 -7.66
Kozelik, the Butcher of Truth 11.75 +2.33
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre 11.73 +0.90
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn 11.70 +1.58
All Is Dust 7.69 -0-
Splinter Twin 7.30 -3.46
Kargan Dragonlord 6.63 -2.29
Linvala, Keeper of Silence 6.44
As we move very close to rotation, it's important ot identify the cards that will have staying power outside of Standard. Basically, were looking for Modern, Legacy, and casual allstars. A great example is the 3 Legendary Eldrazi. I believe they will be the most valuable cards in the set for a long time to come, in the same way that Progenitus is sitting around $15. Vengevine will be close behind though as he will always be tha card that's really good, but a tough puzzle to crack. Splinter Twin doesn't have what it takes in Legacy, but as we saw at PT Philly, it absolutely has what it takes in Modern (it kinda won the whole thing). Aside from those cards, the rest of the set is going to lose a lot of value, so trade accordingly.
Worldwake
Jace, the Mind Sculptor 64.37 -17.54
Stoneforge Mystic 9.07 -11.53
Creeping Tar Pit 6.26 -1.89
Abyssal Persecutor 6.20 -1.80
Avenger of Zendikar 5.23 -1.68
Celestial Colonnade 4.66 -0-
Kalastria Highborn 4.29 -0.80
Dragonmaster Outcast 4.29 +A lot!
So this little thing happened when I was gone for the summer, it really wasn't a big deal, except that it completely changed the landscape of Standard for the months to come. That of course is the bannning of Jace and Stoneforge. You know the cards are completely overpowered when they have been banned in Standard AND Modern for months and they are still the 2 most valuable cards in the set thanks to Legacy! That being said, I think that Jace could ascend to as much as 70 and Stoneforge could go up as high as 15, but I would be suprised if they went any higher. All of the other cards in the set though are going to go down. The only ones that have a hope of retaining good value is the man-lands, but even those seem to be too slow for Modern as it sits right now, especially with Mutavault in the format.
Zendikar
Lotus Cobra 10.34 -3.80
Sorin Markov 7.49 -3.18
Nissa Revane 6.13 -1.01
Iona, Shield of Emeria 6.04 +0.51
Bloodghast 5.67 -1.54
Goblin Guide 5.26 -1.20
Eldrazi Monument 4.64 -2.13
Chandra Ablaze 4.14 -0-
The 5 most valuable cards in the set are actually the fetchlands, but I have a seperate section for those. As is true with all of the ZEN block cards that are rotating, which ones will retain value? Iona, Bloodghast, and Goblin Guide are my choices for most valuable cards down the road. Lotus Cobra may hold some value, but it won't see too much play. Iona is awesome in Reanimator decks and in Dredge (she's my maindeck dredge target), and Bloodghast has been seeing play in Legacy dredge as well. Goblin Guide, as has been said before, is arguably the best red creature ever printed, and it's a 4-of in any RDW deck. As for the other cards, it's time to ship em.
Fetchlands
Polluted Delta 35.15 +2.18
Windswept Heath 29.31 +1.07
Flooded Strand 29.42 +2.65
Wooded Foothills 24.68 +4.33
Bloodstained Mire 19.29 +1.31
Scalding Tarn 14.81 +1.56
Misty Rainforest 13.52 +1.84
Arid Mesa 11.54 -0-
Verdant Catacombs 11.13 -0.93
Marsh Flats 11.13 -0-
So remember how I have been saying for a while now that you should invest in fetchlands? Well here's the proof! 7 of the 10 fetchlands went up in value, and the bottom 3 will be ascending soon. I expect the Onslaught fetchlands to mainly stay still, although Bloodstained mire may go up another 2 or 3, and I expect the Zendikar fetches to go into the 15-20 range. These are all fantastic cards to trade for given the opportunity.
Modern Staples
Blazing Shoal 14.70
Disrupting Shoal 12.76
Vesuva 34.34
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker 11.83
Vendillion Clique 35.77
Dark Confidant 51.36
Tarmogoyf 101.61
Pact of Negation 20.59
Arcbound Ravager 23.29
Mutavault 32.11
Cryptic Command 15.26
I expect the shoals`to come down to the 9 range in the weeks to come. There are rumors that Cloudpost could get banned in Modern, but I don't believe it. The deck was very effectively hated out, and the deck did very poorly overall, despite being popular. Kiki-Jiki just got reprinted, but that hasn't stopped this card's value from soaring thanks to it's PT victory. Vendillion Clique, Dark Confidant, Mutavalut, and Cryptic Command didn't even see play in the top 8, yet they all still champion premium prices. I wouldn't be suprised to see them go down a little bit in the future. Tarmogoyf if good, but it's not $100 good in my opinion. He is selling for 75-80 on eBay, but I expect his price to come down very soon.
That's what I'm sitting on this month, there are a few very interesting cards in Innistrad, but I'm going to wait until the entire set is released before I do a financial review on it, so look forward to that next month! Until next time, Stay Classy!
Scars of Mirroden
Koth of the Hammer 22.30 -0.75
Mox Opal 21.57 +1.91
Venser, the Sojounor 17.07 +4.84
Sword of Body and Mind 10.73 -1.33
Wurmcoil Engine 9.98 +1.64
Elspeth Tirel 9.75 -0.53
Seachrome Coast 7.62
Skithryx, the Blight Dragon 7.11 -3.54
It's nice to see something besides a field of red in the price change column. The big gainer here is obviously Venser who finally found himself a deck in the Bant Birthing Pod deck, which also brought Wurmcoil up as well. Mox Opal went up thanks to the Tempered Steel Deck. Tempered Steel itself, although not listed, would have been the #9 at the list at 6.86, so keep that in mind going forwards. Innistrad looks to not have much in red for a fast RDW deck, so Koth could take a hit because of that. I expect Venser to go down again because I feel the best version of Pod is going to be BUG pod, although Bant will still be viable. Sword of Body and Mind could go down a little more, but if it reaches 8, start scooping them up because it will absolutely go right back up after rotation. Elspeth, on the other hand, is really only going down along with Skittles to the 6 range.
Magic 2011
Jace Beleran 10.58 -0-
Baneslayer Angel 8.83 -1.17
Lilliana Vess 6.57 +0.74
Garruk Wildspeaker 5.75 -1.19
Inferno Titan 5.71 -7.72
Steel Overseer 5.18
Ajani Goldmane 5.17
Sun Titan 4.51 -1.59
Wow... There's just no money to be had in Magic 2011! I omitted Prime Time and Grave Titan because they also got top marks in 2012, but even those cards are losing value! If you still have Jace Beleran kicking around I would dump him as fast as you can, because in a couple months I expect him to drop to 6 or 7, same goes for Baneslayer. Simply put, if ANY of your cards have "M11" on them, just get rid of them ASAP!
Rise of the Eldrazi
Vengevine 16.76 -7.66
Kozelik, the Butcher of Truth 11.75 +2.33
Ulamog, the Infinite Gyre 11.73 +0.90
Emrakul, the Aeons Torn 11.70 +1.58
All Is Dust 7.69 -0-
Splinter Twin 7.30 -3.46
Kargan Dragonlord 6.63 -2.29
Linvala, Keeper of Silence 6.44
As we move very close to rotation, it's important ot identify the cards that will have staying power outside of Standard. Basically, were looking for Modern, Legacy, and casual allstars. A great example is the 3 Legendary Eldrazi. I believe they will be the most valuable cards in the set for a long time to come, in the same way that Progenitus is sitting around $15. Vengevine will be close behind though as he will always be tha card that's really good, but a tough puzzle to crack. Splinter Twin doesn't have what it takes in Legacy, but as we saw at PT Philly, it absolutely has what it takes in Modern (it kinda won the whole thing). Aside from those cards, the rest of the set is going to lose a lot of value, so trade accordingly.
Worldwake
Jace, the Mind Sculptor 64.37 -17.54
Stoneforge Mystic 9.07 -11.53
Creeping Tar Pit 6.26 -1.89
Abyssal Persecutor 6.20 -1.80
Avenger of Zendikar 5.23 -1.68
Celestial Colonnade 4.66 -0-
Kalastria Highborn 4.29 -0.80
Dragonmaster Outcast 4.29 +A lot!
So this little thing happened when I was gone for the summer, it really wasn't a big deal, except that it completely changed the landscape of Standard for the months to come. That of course is the bannning of Jace and Stoneforge. You know the cards are completely overpowered when they have been banned in Standard AND Modern for months and they are still the 2 most valuable cards in the set thanks to Legacy! That being said, I think that Jace could ascend to as much as 70 and Stoneforge could go up as high as 15, but I would be suprised if they went any higher. All of the other cards in the set though are going to go down. The only ones that have a hope of retaining good value is the man-lands, but even those seem to be too slow for Modern as it sits right now, especially with Mutavault in the format.
Zendikar
Lotus Cobra 10.34 -3.80
Sorin Markov 7.49 -3.18
Nissa Revane 6.13 -1.01
Iona, Shield of Emeria 6.04 +0.51
Bloodghast 5.67 -1.54
Goblin Guide 5.26 -1.20
Eldrazi Monument 4.64 -2.13
Chandra Ablaze 4.14 -0-
The 5 most valuable cards in the set are actually the fetchlands, but I have a seperate section for those. As is true with all of the ZEN block cards that are rotating, which ones will retain value? Iona, Bloodghast, and Goblin Guide are my choices for most valuable cards down the road. Lotus Cobra may hold some value, but it won't see too much play. Iona is awesome in Reanimator decks and in Dredge (she's my maindeck dredge target), and Bloodghast has been seeing play in Legacy dredge as well. Goblin Guide, as has been said before, is arguably the best red creature ever printed, and it's a 4-of in any RDW deck. As for the other cards, it's time to ship em.
Fetchlands
Polluted Delta 35.15 +2.18
Windswept Heath 29.31 +1.07
Flooded Strand 29.42 +2.65
Wooded Foothills 24.68 +4.33
Bloodstained Mire 19.29 +1.31
Scalding Tarn 14.81 +1.56
Misty Rainforest 13.52 +1.84
Arid Mesa 11.54 -0-
Verdant Catacombs 11.13 -0.93
Marsh Flats 11.13 -0-
So remember how I have been saying for a while now that you should invest in fetchlands? Well here's the proof! 7 of the 10 fetchlands went up in value, and the bottom 3 will be ascending soon. I expect the Onslaught fetchlands to mainly stay still, although Bloodstained mire may go up another 2 or 3, and I expect the Zendikar fetches to go into the 15-20 range. These are all fantastic cards to trade for given the opportunity.
Modern Staples
Blazing Shoal 14.70
Disrupting Shoal 12.76
Vesuva 34.34
Kiki-Jiki, Mirror Breaker 11.83
Vendillion Clique 35.77
Dark Confidant 51.36
Tarmogoyf 101.61
Pact of Negation 20.59
Arcbound Ravager 23.29
Mutavault 32.11
Cryptic Command 15.26
I expect the shoals`to come down to the 9 range in the weeks to come. There are rumors that Cloudpost could get banned in Modern, but I don't believe it. The deck was very effectively hated out, and the deck did very poorly overall, despite being popular. Kiki-Jiki just got reprinted, but that hasn't stopped this card's value from soaring thanks to it's PT victory. Vendillion Clique, Dark Confidant, Mutavalut, and Cryptic Command didn't even see play in the top 8, yet they all still champion premium prices. I wouldn't be suprised to see them go down a little bit in the future. Tarmogoyf if good, but it's not $100 good in my opinion. He is selling for 75-80 on eBay, but I expect his price to come down very soon.
That's what I'm sitting on this month, there are a few very interesting cards in Innistrad, but I'm going to wait until the entire set is released before I do a financial review on it, so look forward to that next month! Until next time, Stay Classy!
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
This Guy Will Leave You With Skaabs
Hello Everybody! Today we have a ton of previewed cards to go over and discuss, so let's not waste any time and just dive right in!
I am actually really excited for this card! Morkrut Banshee is like Flametongue Kavu more than it is Skinreder because of the difference between 3 and 4, and also because they both wear away at the end of turn. Flamtongue Kavu was so popular and so potent in its day that it's still completely recognizable when anyone types FTK, it's been reprinted three times (Jace vs Chandra, Planeschase, and Commander [and yeah, the commander art is bad...]), and he even had his own Vanguard Avatar! This is a different day and age, but still expect to see Morkrut Banshee in a Pod deck near you! Shes completely solid as a 5-drop and I expect her to be first pick material in drafts all around!
The only real reason I am previewing this guy is because he is a Mythic. Sure he's flavorful and hes a great Morbid enabler, but he just doesn't strike a tone with me... This should just be a bulk mythic... However, this next zombie mythic....
...Is COMPLETELY BALLIN'!!! MaRo previewed this card yesterday, and it's simply a really cool card that will probably never show up in constructed, but will absolutely be making splashes in basically every casual deck near you! Although if you want to try it in constructed, may I suggest this?
Turn 1: Soul Warden
Turn 2: Carnival of Souls
Turn 3: Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Army of the Damned (13 mana in the pool), Flashback Army of the Damned (16 mana in the pool), Consume Spirit X=14
As is, I don't expect this card to make any splashes in constructed, but it should trade like hotcakes as it is such a cool and fun card that everyone should want. I can see this card holding a $5 price tag on insanity alone!
This guy was previewed today on the Mothership by the dude who talks about crazy casual who I don't like. I know I'm not his target audience, but this card doesn't stick with me either. Normally I would say it's a really cool and interesting card, but this is the horror set! I want cards that simply terrify me, not someone who was a last-minute reject from the Carnivale dance squad who is now crying deeply in the forbidden forest! I think they should have put him in the file as awesome, but not for this set. Zombies get 3 mythic rares (theres another later in this post) while Werewolves get 0, and instead in the green slot they get a very generic card that eats up a precious mythic slot. And while I'm on this tangent....
...Seriously!?! What the hell? Why does there HAVE to be a dragon in this set? In it's preview article on manday (I accidently typo-ed while writing monday, but I like it and I am officially renaming monday manday from now til forever), Jeremy Jarvis said:
Innistrad - Balefire Dragon
Magic 2012 - Furyborn Hellkite
New Phyrexia - Moltensteel Dragon
Mirroden Beseiged - Hellkite Igniter
Scars of Mirroden - Skittles
Magic 2011 - Ancient Hellkite
Rise of the Eldrazi - Kargan Dragonlord, Sarkhan the Mad
Worldwake - Mordant Dragon
Zendikar - Hellkite Charger
Magic 2010 - Borgarden Hellkite
Alara Reborn - Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund
Conflux - Malfegor
Shards of Alara - Hellkite Overlord
Eventide - ..........
Yeah, you have to go back to 2008 to find a set released with no dragons in it. It's ok to not have any dragons if you don't actually need them! In fact, there's only 1 dragon in the entire Lorwyn-Shadowmoor block! They didn't need it for the set to work, and the set worked perfectly fine and survived without them. The card itself is fine, but I just can't see the need for a Dragon in Innistrad....
Snapcaster Mage
Creature - Human Wizard
1U
Flash
When Snapcaster Mage enters the battlefield, target instant or sorcery card in your graveyard gains flashback until end of turn. The flashback cost is equal to its mana cost.
2/1
This guy was previewed by Aaron Forsythe over the weekend, and even though I don't think it's an incredible card, it rather tickled my fancy (what's that even mean??). I can see this guy being really fun in limited when you give a removal spell flashback or in constructed when you flashback a Mana Leak. Actually that second idea doesn't sound too bad! Game one, be sure to mana leak their spell then later flash it back with Snapcaster. Then in game 2, sideboard out your Snapcasters and watch as you buy yourself free turns as they play around you flashing back a Mana Leak, setting themselves back several turns (and then you can charge your Ludvic's Test Subject with the extra mana...). There's nothing like getting a little extra value out of all your spells (Pyromancer Ascension?)
No, don't read what I have to say yet, scroll up again and get another look. No seriously do it! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! When I say this card my jaw dropped for a minute as decklists started attacking my brain from every angle and synergistic cards started panning by in every direction. It would have made a cool scene in a movie actually... But in all seriousness, this card will greatly reward the first person to get the exact formula down as how to best use him. Guess what I'm suggesting! BUG Pod! How did you guess? Seriously, if Pod decks are all about taking a cruise down to value town, then Skaab Ruinator could be the Mayor. Imagine if you got a fast Ruinator out by Podding a Perilous Myr into Ruinator (destroying an enemy dude in the process). The opponent is terrified, so they Doom Blade it. You simply dont care and work to turn that Birds of Paradise into a Sheolred. By the time you get to Sad Robot, you have enough creatures in the yard to recur the Skaab Ruinator. Bonus points if they forgot about ol' Skabby. If Solomn Simulcrum didn't provide enough awesomeness (rampant growth, trade with a creature, draw a card) it can now help you cast a very undercosted zombie horror.
But with a card this special and powerful, there's so many options in front of us. Why not build a whole new deck around him? How about a UB deck that uses Liliana? Dredge used to be called Ichorid because of how important the card was to the deck, maybe we could make a deck like Peeling Skaabs? Finally Jace's $30 price tag may be relevant finally as his +1 ability would allow you to draw a card and also mill yourself 1 card. Another card that could work well in the deck is Mindshrieker. Imagine this curve:
T1: Ponder
T2: Mindshrieker
T3: Liliana
T4: Skaab Ruinator if your Mindshrieker died, otherwise mill yourself with Mindshrieker
T5: Jace, get silly
I don't want to come out with a decklist now, simply because people take decklists and don't innovate for themselves. Instead I want to make a list of cards that we can use to help make Skaab Ruinator go over the top:
Birthing Pod
Sun Titan
Liliana of the Veil
Jace, Memory Adept
Jace's Archivest
Curse of the Bloody Tome
Civilized Scholar
Mindshrieker
Merfolk Looter
Visions of Beyond
Cemetery Reaper
SmallPox
Vengeful Pharoah
Zombie Infestation
Solomn Simulcrum
Flesh Allergy
Necrotic Ooze
Serum Raker
Looking at all these cards I can see all kinds of cards and interactions that could work very well together. However a recurring problem is that you're going to need A LOT of creatures in your deck to make Skaab Ruinator to work consistently. That is my deckbuilding challenge to you reading this blog: how can we make Skaab Ruinator work miracles? If you have any creative ideas, feel free to leave a comment or message me and I will be sure to bring it up in a future post. Skaab Ruinator is vying for the best spike card in the set, but it's giving us a big stanky challenge to work out...
That's all I have today, until next time keep brewing, and stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
I am actually really excited for this card! Morkrut Banshee is like Flametongue Kavu more than it is Skinreder because of the difference between 3 and 4, and also because they both wear away at the end of turn. Flamtongue Kavu was so popular and so potent in its day that it's still completely recognizable when anyone types FTK, it's been reprinted three times (Jace vs Chandra, Planeschase, and Commander [and yeah, the commander art is bad...]), and he even had his own Vanguard Avatar! This is a different day and age, but still expect to see Morkrut Banshee in a Pod deck near you! Shes completely solid as a 5-drop and I expect her to be first pick material in drafts all around!
The only real reason I am previewing this guy is because he is a Mythic. Sure he's flavorful and hes a great Morbid enabler, but he just doesn't strike a tone with me... This should just be a bulk mythic... However, this next zombie mythic....
...Is COMPLETELY BALLIN'!!! MaRo previewed this card yesterday, and it's simply a really cool card that will probably never show up in constructed, but will absolutely be making splashes in basically every casual deck near you! Although if you want to try it in constructed, may I suggest this?
Turn 1: Soul Warden
Turn 2: Carnival of Souls
Turn 3: Dark Ritual, Dark Ritual, Army of the Damned (13 mana in the pool), Flashback Army of the Damned (16 mana in the pool), Consume Spirit X=14
As is, I don't expect this card to make any splashes in constructed, but it should trade like hotcakes as it is such a cool and fun card that everyone should want. I can see this card holding a $5 price tag on insanity alone!
This guy was previewed today on the Mothership by the dude who talks about crazy casual who I don't like. I know I'm not his target audience, but this card doesn't stick with me either. Normally I would say it's a really cool and interesting card, but this is the horror set! I want cards that simply terrify me, not someone who was a last-minute reject from the Carnivale dance squad who is now crying deeply in the forbidden forest! I think they should have put him in the file as awesome, but not for this set. Zombies get 3 mythic rares (theres another later in this post) while Werewolves get 0, and instead in the green slot they get a very generic card that eats up a precious mythic slot. And while I'm on this tangent....
...Seriously!?! What the hell? Why does there HAVE to be a dragon in this set? In it's preview article on manday (I accidently typo-ed while writing monday, but I like it and I am officially renaming monday manday from now til forever), Jeremy Jarvis said:
So what happens when the set demands something be included that really doesn't fit here naturally? For instance, a dragon. Remember all the dark gothic tales about werewolves fighting dragons? Me either. Not a natural fit in the lore. What does one do?Don't include it in the set. I understand we all love to see badass dragons in our fantasy worlds, but if it doesn't need to be there, don't force it. Balefire Dragon doesn't bring anything creative to the table that required it to be in Innistrad, like possibly the Morbid ability. Just like Essence of the Wild it's a fairly generic ability, but they just thought of it now, so they're using it now. Take a wild guess as to what set is the most recent one to NOT have any sort of dragons or dragon references in it?
Innistrad - Balefire Dragon
Magic 2012 - Furyborn Hellkite
New Phyrexia - Moltensteel Dragon
Mirroden Beseiged - Hellkite Igniter
Scars of Mirroden - Skittles
Magic 2011 - Ancient Hellkite
Rise of the Eldrazi - Kargan Dragonlord, Sarkhan the Mad
Worldwake - Mordant Dragon
Zendikar - Hellkite Charger
Magic 2010 - Borgarden Hellkite
Alara Reborn - Karrthus, Tyrant of Jund
Conflux - Malfegor
Shards of Alara - Hellkite Overlord
Eventide - ..........
Yeah, you have to go back to 2008 to find a set released with no dragons in it. It's ok to not have any dragons if you don't actually need them! In fact, there's only 1 dragon in the entire Lorwyn-Shadowmoor block! They didn't need it for the set to work, and the set worked perfectly fine and survived without them. The card itself is fine, but I just can't see the need for a Dragon in Innistrad....
Snapcaster Mage
Creature - Human Wizard
1U
Flash
When Snapcaster Mage enters the battlefield, target instant or sorcery card in your graveyard gains flashback until end of turn. The flashback cost is equal to its mana cost.
2/1
This guy was previewed by Aaron Forsythe over the weekend, and even though I don't think it's an incredible card, it rather tickled my fancy (what's that even mean??). I can see this guy being really fun in limited when you give a removal spell flashback or in constructed when you flashback a Mana Leak. Actually that second idea doesn't sound too bad! Game one, be sure to mana leak their spell then later flash it back with Snapcaster. Then in game 2, sideboard out your Snapcasters and watch as you buy yourself free turns as they play around you flashing back a Mana Leak, setting themselves back several turns (and then you can charge your Ludvic's Test Subject with the extra mana...). There's nothing like getting a little extra value out of all your spells (Pyromancer Ascension?)
No, don't read what I have to say yet, scroll up again and get another look. No seriously do it! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!! When I say this card my jaw dropped for a minute as decklists started attacking my brain from every angle and synergistic cards started panning by in every direction. It would have made a cool scene in a movie actually... But in all seriousness, this card will greatly reward the first person to get the exact formula down as how to best use him. Guess what I'm suggesting! BUG Pod! How did you guess? Seriously, if Pod decks are all about taking a cruise down to value town, then Skaab Ruinator could be the Mayor. Imagine if you got a fast Ruinator out by Podding a Perilous Myr into Ruinator (destroying an enemy dude in the process). The opponent is terrified, so they Doom Blade it. You simply dont care and work to turn that Birds of Paradise into a Sheolred. By the time you get to Sad Robot, you have enough creatures in the yard to recur the Skaab Ruinator. Bonus points if they forgot about ol' Skabby. If Solomn Simulcrum didn't provide enough awesomeness (rampant growth, trade with a creature, draw a card) it can now help you cast a very undercosted zombie horror.
But with a card this special and powerful, there's so many options in front of us. Why not build a whole new deck around him? How about a UB deck that uses Liliana? Dredge used to be called Ichorid because of how important the card was to the deck, maybe we could make a deck like Peeling Skaabs? Finally Jace's $30 price tag may be relevant finally as his +1 ability would allow you to draw a card and also mill yourself 1 card. Another card that could work well in the deck is Mindshrieker. Imagine this curve:
T1: Ponder
T2: Mindshrieker
T3: Liliana
T4: Skaab Ruinator if your Mindshrieker died, otherwise mill yourself with Mindshrieker
T5: Jace, get silly
I don't want to come out with a decklist now, simply because people take decklists and don't innovate for themselves. Instead I want to make a list of cards that we can use to help make Skaab Ruinator go over the top:
Birthing Pod
Sun Titan
Liliana of the Veil
Jace, Memory Adept
Jace's Archivest
Curse of the Bloody Tome
Civilized Scholar
Mindshrieker
Merfolk Looter
Visions of Beyond
Cemetery Reaper
SmallPox
Vengeful Pharoah
Zombie Infestation
Solomn Simulcrum
Flesh Allergy
Necrotic Ooze
Serum Raker
Looking at all these cards I can see all kinds of cards and interactions that could work very well together. However a recurring problem is that you're going to need A LOT of creatures in your deck to make Skaab Ruinator to work consistently. That is my deckbuilding challenge to you reading this blog: how can we make Skaab Ruinator work miracles? If you have any creative ideas, feel free to leave a comment or message me and I will be sure to bring it up in a future post. Skaab Ruinator is vying for the best spike card in the set, but it's giving us a big stanky challenge to work out...
That's all I have today, until next time keep brewing, and stay classy!
Ryan Lackie
Ryan.Lackie92@gmail.com
@ThingsILack
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